Episode 15, Season 5 Explorers
by A wee Moose
Summary: The crew investigates a planet and find something terrible
1. Chapter 1

" First Duty Shift "

**20:55 hours  
Wren - Sickbay**

His first late night shift in sickbay. Four days since he arrived here.

Dr Karen Coleridge has him go through every single presciption given in the last 9 months to see if anyone has been abusing the system. Regs are relaxed, normally no one would dare. _No one would be that stupid, to do harm to their own body, right ?_

Thunk!

Crewman Wren's chain of thought broke off when something soft struck him in the back of the head. He swiveled his chair around and picked the object off the floor. A screwed up piece of paper. He arched an eyebrow at it but the paper did nothing. Of course, paper does not roll itself into a ball and hurl itself across rooms for no apparent reason, it is supposed to be perfectly inanimate.

Wren liked inanimate objects, mostly because they weren't smart enough to annoy him, but also because they had the decency not to randomly bombard him. Wren thought that this must be an incredibly impolite piece of paper.

But obviously, paper has no sentience, so somebody must have thrown it at him. There was only one other person in Sickbay with him so…

Wren shifted his glance over to Demi who was one computer terminal away, staring at the screen like a statue, but her fingers flying over the keyboard at a phenomenal rate. She caught his glance. "What?" She asked, irritated.

_Uh oh. She's in a bad mood. Keep away, Danger._ Wren's mind told him, he agreed with it and turned back to his work, not wanting to walk down that path any more than he had to.

Thunk!

Thunk!

Two more pieces of paper flew at him, one hitting him square in the neck, the other missing and landing on the computer terminal. This time he KNEW that Demi was the culprit, he heard her stifled giggles being suppressed behind him. He sighed, she was in one of those strange ambiguous phases again. Why holograms needed emotion was beyond Wren, it only caused trouble. Because most EMH holograms resembled their makers, he guessed that whoever designed Demi must have had too much sugar that particular day.

"Stop it." He said.

"Stop what?" She asked, back to her typing, faking innocence.

"Just stop it." He repeated, turning off the computer screen, folding his arms and half closing his eyes.

What Demi didn't know was that he was still watching the computer, the black screen giving him a perfect reflection of the goings on behind him. He saw her pick up a piece of paper, screw it up into a ball, and hurl it at him.

Wren's reflexes kicked in, and he caught right before it struck him, then sent it back to where it came from, AKA Demi. She didn't expect it and he scored a direct hit on her chest. It bounced and landed in her open palm. She looked at him coyly, a sparkle of determination in her eye.

"Of course you realize, this means war." Demi announced, squeezing the paper ball in her hand.

"Bring it." He replied, standing up and taking a few sidesteps towards a terminal that was laden with paper. He would fight fire with fire.

"I concur." Demi moved behind her terminal, crouching. She was prepared, a whole pile of rolled up paper was waiting for her, her more than ample arsenal. Wren did likewise, but he suffered from the handicap that his paper was still in its uncrumpled form, unsuitable for battle. It would take precious seconds to get ready, seconds he did not have.

Two more Demi's holo-materialized, ganging up on the new medic.

**19:20 hours  
Captain Rakurai Stryker - Shuttlebay**

Stryker entered the shuttle bay, and found his officers assembled before him. In keeping with tradition, they had all assembled about one or two minutes early, so that when the Captain entered at the precise time he would not be kept waiting, even by a matter of seconds. Stryker smiled while thinking about that. _Whatever captain was responsible for starting that tradition must have been a real jerk._

... I will proberly like him or her.

Karen Coleridge, Kathryn Delore, Kretak and Liz Archer flanked their Captain. Alice penguin-walked/dashed out a minute ago saying "I go to go pee again."

Cautionary Warning alarms went off as the huge doors opened to the vacuum of space, seperated only by a thin forcefield. Stryker was standing behind the tractor beam, where a comm panel was located. /\ "Welcome back Avro Arrow. Are you carrying our two newest victims ?" Stryker joked.

"Yes sir." come the reply from Ensign Belldandy.

When the shuttle was secured and powering down, the rear hatch opened.

A young Betazoid woman and Human man stepped out, each carrying a few belongings. If they had any bigger belongings, it would be beamed to their quarters within the hour.

"Counselor Kathryn Delore. Lt. Alister Maxwell." Stryker greeted them. "Welcome onboard."

Maxwell appeared to be in his mid or late thirties. Has a mid to heavy set build, brown reddish hair, blue eyes and a contagious smile. He is wearing the black, grey duty uniform and carrying a bag and 2 boxes probably containing his personal belongings.

"Good day to you Captain. Nice to finally meet you in person." He puts the boxes and the bag down on the cargo bay floor. Straightens his uniform by jerking it and shakes the glove wearing hand of the captain.

"Likewise, lieutenant" Captain Stryker replied and continued to introduce the first officer, the ships doctor and security chief. "And you´ve already met our ships counsellor."

"Yes, i have." _Delore noticed the new engineers surprised face when he saw a Gorn on duty as the ships security officer. Nothing out of the ordinary. _

"Your belongings will be transported to your quaters momentarily. I now have other matter to attend to but I am sure Archer is more than willing to give you a tour of the ship."

"Thanks, captain." Maxwell answered as he turned to her as the others exited the shuttlebay.

"Perhaps you´re interested in seeing your office and the engineering decks?" She asked him in a polite way.

"Yes. I´d like that but first, is there any place that a man can get his coffee ?" he said with a grin.

"Yes there is Mr. Maxwell" she said and smiled back.

**Kathryn Delore – Sickbay**

Kathryn entered the sickbay with a huge smile. "I must say, that the ship is much bigger than I expected." Alice followed her in and nodded and replied. "You are not the only one that thinks so. That is often what newcomer says when they first arrive.." Alice looked around and had an odd expression on her face. " That's odd,… "

A strange smell surrounded them. Kathryn and Alice looked at each other with a big question mark.

A voice broke the silence. "Ahh, the new counselor, I presume."

A short bolded man came toward them from the side room and shocked Kathryn's hand eagerly. The man then took Alice hand and shocked her hand.

Kathryn took he hand to her noise. "What is that smell?" The man said "You like. It's actually a new perfume that I am testing."

"_What did you do, drown yourself with it?" _Alice said telepathically.

Kathryn giggled out loud and put her hand to her mouth in an attempt to sharpen herself. He didn't take notice to Kathryn and looked at Alice with curiosity and said. "Are to due soon?"

Alice blinked her eyes with surprise. "..What do you mean?"

The strange man gave her knowing glimpses at her huge pregnant stomach. Alice took her hand to the stomach and said. "Oh, not yet but very soon... "

The man smiled and asked "May I ?" Alice gave Kathryn a nervous glimpse and nodded.

The strange man took his hand on the stomach and gave a huge smile. "Yes, I can feel them move."

Kathryn had a strange look on her face. She asked him. "You are a hologram, aren't you?"

The man took his hand away from her stomach. "Yes, I am. How insolent of me to not introduce myself. I am an Emergency Medical Hologram AK-1. I haven't decided for a name yet. "

Kathryn smile warmly and said. "I know you, you are from USS Voyager. I have heard a lot about you. "

The Doctor seemed please that Kathryn had heard about him and seemed to floating on clouds. "Really, I am glad to hear that the words about my works have spread.

The doctor turned to Alice. "If you ever need a doctor for the big day, I would love to have the big honor."

A loud voice heard. "Over my dead body! "

They all turned around and saw Doctor Karen standing there with a angry face. Karen walked over to the doctor and said almost accusing. "What are you doing here? Did I say that my sickbay is off limit? Kathryn and Alice looked at each other.

Kathryn said telepathically to Alice. "_Maybe we should leave them alone_?"

Alice responded. "_Maybe you are right._ "

Alice and Kathryn walked slowly away leaving the two doctors arguing.

**Liz Archer- Bridge**

Liz walked back and forth in her quarters. She was really worried. Through out the week she felt that Stryker was watching her closely. She couldn't understand why he acted like that.

Every minute of her duty time he had been watching over her like an eagle. She didn't like it at first, but keep on reminding herself not to bother and just carrying on with her duty. 

She knew that he had talked about her with Mike and probably with other of her friends. She accidentally over heard them talk about her, but when she then asked Mike what they where discussing about. Mike just smiled and gave her a hug with any explanations. 

She couldn't understand the reason for this sudden change in behavior. She had been nothing but exemplary in terms of doing her job properly.

Liz went over to the window and saw the reflection of her through the window. She looked at the area what was known of being the mysterious sections of the Alpha Quadrant, Seraris Regions which is protected by the so-called Magic Barrier.

Her duty started in about a few minutes so she tightened her uniform and took a deep breath. As she left her quarters she was sure that he would be there and observing her.

**Sickbay**

Once the side party had dismissed, Karen walked up to Sickbay to finish up rounds and check out for the day. After briefly speaking with the charge nurse, she headed for her office, leaving the door open in case anyone needed to speak with her.

An hour later, the sounds of conversation outside caught her attention, and she put down her stylus to listen. _I hear Jones, I hear Mrs. Brangwin, and I'm pretty sure that's that new counselor - what was her name, Delore - but who's the man they're talking to?_

Curious, she poked her head out to door just to see the fourth person, a balding man in a very outdated uniform with blue shoulders and no rank insignia, place his hands on Alice's stomach. "If you ever need a doctor for the big day, I would love to have the big honor."

_Not in my Sickbay, you don't!_

"Over my dead body," Karen retorted, walking out of her office toward the newcomer, and immediately wishing she'd stayed put as her senses were assaulted by a wave of perfume. "This is a restricted area - what are you doing here, and who the hell are you, anyway?"

The newcomer turned to regard her with a look of disdain. "Emergency Medical Hologram, Mark One. Who are you?"

"Karen Coleridge, CMO. And you still haven't answered my question." _Mark One? That thing's been obsolete for the last ten years. I wonder if this is the one that came back on the Voyager?_

Somehow, the EMH's expression grew even haughtier, as Alice and Kathryn snuck out the door. "When I'm not engaged on lifesaving research or charity work, I enjoy traveling among the ships of the Fleet to see where my services are needed, and as a boost to morale among my flesh-and-blood comrades."

_Yup, has to be the Voyager model. No other EMH would have that much of an attitude - or wear that much cologne._ "Well, I hate to see you travel all the way out here for nothing, but we have a highly advanced Mark III system here in the Pretoria's medical department, so I think we're all set on holographic assistance. Now if you're looking to go sightseeing, why don't you try the Arboretum?"

The EMH finally left in a huff, and Karen stood there for a moment, calming herself before turning to the charge nurse, a boisterous young African woman wearing the single pip of an ensign. "Keisha? I'm going to run down to Dot's and grab something to eat before my blood sugar completely bottoms out. Call me if anything comes up, all right?"

"No problem, ma'am... permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead...?"

"If I'd ever sassed somebody like that holo-doc did, my mama would have whooped me one. You're all right, ma'am."

Karen replied with a lopsided grin. "Normally it's not my habit to tee off on strangers. But I'm glad you think I did the right thing."

**Lt Alister Maxwell Turbolift 2 at 1700 hrs.**

The silent humming of the turbolift commensed on the command "Deck 30"

_Lt Archer gave me a nice tour of the ship. Dot´s diner looks like a real nice place to hang out. I´ve never been on a starship that had it´s own swimmingpool. I better see to it that the gravitational stabilizers stay online._ He lets a laugh out for himself._Otherwise I´ll have a real mess on my hands. It´s a shame I haven;t met all of the engineering crew before i met the ongoing Alpha team._

**Lt Alister Maxwell, Main Engineering, Alpha shift, at 1700 hrs.**

The humming suddenly stopped and the door opened to main engineering. Two women stood at the table-like Master systems display. The tall andorian looks up from the flickering status lights on her console.

"Good day chief".

"Good day to you crewman." Nodding to the other crewman. "We will have a short shift meeting in ten minutes. Where do you usually have them"

The black haired crewman aswered. "Here, around the master systems display."

"Ok, see you in ten then". He continued towards his own office and passed shift members on their places monitoring the displays on the wall showing both of the propulsion systems. Suddenly he recognized the ensign being relived from the master situations monitor.

"Alex" he said with a big smile and arms wide open to embrace his younger sister.  
"Alex" she said with a teasing smile and suddenly they both felt like they were on the fields in the outskirts of Edinbourugh again.

"I have missed you so much." He said hugging Alex tightly. "And I you." she answered as he gave her a kiss on her forehead.

"How have you been? I´ve heard this ship has been through alot since you signed on". "Is´nt that why both you and I joined starfleet in the first place." "Yes, I guess it was" They let go of each other.

"Tell you what Alex, I have to go now, I have an appointment but let´s have lunch sometime."

"Oh, ok. Go then, for a minute I thought you were on this shift. It would have been nice talking to you."

"I might have some time to visit you down here during the evening ut I can´t promise you anything."

"Okay, okay I´ll see you around and don´t forget to call mother. She told me it´s been some time since she heard from you."

"I won´t and say hello to Sam for me. You still speak to her every night don´t you."

He nodded and wawed good bye as she walked out towards the turbolift. He turns to the smiling Ensign at the closest workstation. "What´s you name mister?" He said with a smiling face.

"Anderson" he answered a bit unsure where this was going.

Maxwell's face turns in to a grim one "Mr Anderson, the only one that can call me that is her and you better remember that if you dont want to spend the rest of your time aboard this ship scrubbing the plasma exhaust tubes" 

As he walked in to the office his face turned in to a grin and he started to whistle as the doors closed behind him. _Always make an impact...hehe_

**21:45 hours  
Dot's Diner**

Dot's Diner

Ten minutes after the showdown in Sickbay, a much happier Karen was tucking into a thick club sandwich, French fries and coleslaw, while a half-full glass of iced tea, the remains of a garden salad, a dish of mixed fruit and a plate of cheese and crackers lay at hand, along with a yet-uneaten plate of pastries. Thanks to her enhanced metabolism and her running habit, she'd always been able to put away an inordinate amount of food for someone her size, and even past forty, she still retained the build of a much younger woman - a trait that had alternately awed and annoyed most of the people she dealt with.

The flipside of that, of course, was a tendency to hypoglycemia, and when that happened, a headache and a case of general irritability usually weren't far behind. It had become a running joke in Sickbay, to the point that one of the surgical nurses, a battleaxe of a JG named Longchamp who'd been around almost as long as Karen had been alive, had posted a sign at the OR control desk:

"ATTENTION ALL STAFF - REVISION TO EMERGENCY CODE SYSTEM - CODE COOKIES

In case of sudden severe deterioration in Dr. Coleridge's mood:  
Notify OR Control that a Code Cookies has occurred  
Remove Dr to non-sterile area  
Administer sugar-based snack foods PRN until condition improves."

_Code Cookies, indeed. I hope I didn't rip on that EMH too badly..._

The diner was dark, lit only by dim white candles. Platters of flaky white pastries and alien fruit on the tables around the room. Outside the windows, space debris streaked by, briefly made florescent by the ship's warp field.

Stryker took a sip of his drink. It was the colour of the sun and sparkled like the ocean. The room's lights were lowered. The air warm, comfortably so, like a room with a fireplace.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Captain Stryker walked in. He ordered a glass of mango juice and tossed off half the glass in one slug, staring out the transparent plate windows with a pensive expression. After a few moments' thought, he looked around the room, and began walking in her direction.

"Good afternoon, Sir. Can I help you?" Karen stood up and indicated the second chair with a wave.

"Doctor." Even in the informal atmosphere of Dot's, the captain had trouble with first names. "I have been thinking. Wondering. I finally recall that altercation that you and Alice were in, a month ago in Sickbay."

_Uh-oh._ The memory came back unbidden - flashes of Stryker's frozen face, Alice bursting into the ward, the other woman choking the life out of her, the shock on Alice's face. "Sir...?"

"Doctor ..." he started off uneasily. She already tried, as did many others, but it is rare for Stryker to call someone by their first name.

"I have been thinking. Wondering. I finally recall that altercation that Alice and Karen where in, a month ago in Sickbay."

"My admission ?" Karen asked.

"Yes. I tried to read up on it first. But it appears to be a tabboo in human society." he paused. "What does it mean to you to be ... lesbian ? ... I have attempted to read about human sexual relations, but I have found very little information that is not of either religious or pornographic nature. What does 'lesbian' mean, and why is sexuality such taboo in human society?"

Karen began to laugh softly, and Stryker regarded her with a puzzled expression. "It is a subject for humor?"

"No sir, it's just that it's a complex question to answer, and some of the answers we still don't have. The greatest of human thinkers have battled over that puzzle and they're still in the dark, yet we expect everyone past puberty to figure it out largely on their own. You might want to grab yourself a refill, because we might be here for a while."

A few moments later, they were both seated again.

"Where to begin... let's start with biology. Humans come in two sexes, male and female, which are determined at the genetic level by the presence or absence of a Y chromosome. You probably know this part. Human embryos are physiologically neuter at conception, but undergo sex differentiation in the first trimester - either a Y chromosome is present and it directs the formation of male genitalia, or it isn't and female genitalia are formed by default. Formation of the genitalia and maternal-fetal hormonal interaction results in the release of androgens or estrogens into the fetal environment, and those hormones act on the brain and the body throughout gestation. Theoretically, by the end of nine and a half months, the result is a human neonate with a determinate set of genitalia and a neurological conformation that matches the physiological sex, and when that child reaches puberty and undergoes secondary sexual differentiation, theoretically it will be oriented toward members of the opposite sex."

"Theoretically, you said. I take it the process can fail?"

"It can, and actually, derangements of the process happen a lot more often than people think. It's because of the cultural issues surrounding sexuality that many of them either aren't discussed or are thought not to exist. Humans tend not to acknowledge what's not constantly in their faces."

"Interesting, Doctor," Stryker replied. "Please continue."

"Current neuropsych theory holds that the formation of a sexual identity has four components: biological sex, neurological sex, psychological sex and environmental influence. You can have discrepancies between any of those factors. For example, you can have an individual who has female genitalia and a feminized brain, but her biological sex is male. That's called androgen insensitivity syndrome - a failure in androgen receptor formation halted the formation of male features, so the body 'defaulted' to female. Nowadays a lot of the intersex, or hermaphroditic, conditions are screened out before birth, but some we just can't do anything about short of embryonic genetic surgery _in vitro_, and AIS is one of them. Or in another example, you can have an individual with male genitalia, but his brain was feminized due to any one of a number of factors. He thinks of himself as a male, but finds other males attractive. That's a normal gay man. In an extreme case, where the brain is completely feminized, you get a male-to-female transsexual - someone who cannot tolerate living as a male and seeks medical and surgical assistance in living as a female. Flip the situation around, and you get either a lesbian or a female-to-male trans. Ambiguous conditions of neurological and psychological sex result in an individual who can function as a homo- or a heterosexual, and such a one is bisexual. In species where androgyny or hermaphroditism is the biological norm, the term is ambisexual.

"When you throw environmental influences, such as sex taboos and cultural norms, into the mix, it's a whole new situation. If our gay man lives in a culture where homosexuality is accepted, he will associate openly with other gay men, and he will usually have no or few problems accepting himself and his identity. If that's not the case, if either religious beliefs or secular culture teaches that homosexuality is wrong, diseased or immoral, you can see all kinds of psychological issues in many different kinds of people. For example, you can get young adults who would otherwise identify as heterosexual claiming a homosexual identity for themselves in order to seek attention or anger parents and authority figures. Once the shock value wears off, they go back to heterosexual behavior. Or, you can get a queer person who represses his or her identity and lives 'in the closet.' Such a one might live celibate and avoid the problem entirely, or deny the charge by being highly promiscuous or by marrying a heterosexual partner, but they can't deny their identity to themselves, and usually psychological problems result, anything from depressive disorders to uncontrollable rage and hatred, and in extreme cases they can pose a risk to self or others." Karen cracked a lopsided smile, but her eyes were somber. "The psych guys have a rather black joke about that situation; they call it 'suicidal/homicidal impulsive thinking,' and the joke is that you see a patient like that and say 'Oh, SHIT.'"

Stryker tilted his head to one side, thinking. "Hmm. I meant to ask you why so many medical professionals find such humor in such painful situations... but that's for another time. Go on."

"Oh, I can answer that one quickly - it's combat trauma. You see so many sick and injured people you can't help, and you have to laugh or you'd go nuts." Taking a drink of her iced tea, Karen continued speaking. "Anyway. That's the primer on human sexuality, more or less. You asked what a lesbian is, what that means. Truthfully, the answer is highly individual. For some women, it is a sexual identity and nothing more - they see themselves as just like other women in every respect, except that they find other women attractive. For others, sexuality informs their whole self-concept. Some act masculine or 'butch,' others act feminine, most fall somewhere in between. Some are very sexually aggressive, others are not. Some live entirely among others of their kind, others find a partner and have no other contact with the queer subculture - and no, that's not so much an insult anymore. Nowadays, 'queer' refers to the community comprising gay, lesbian, bi, trans, intersexual, ambisexual, hetero people with ties to any of the above, and really anyone else who doesn't see themselves as strictly straight. Some turn their identities to political ends, whether it's advocating for queer issues, women's, children's or sentient rights issues. In other words, the entire range of human diversity exists in the queer population."

"And what about you, Doctor?"

"Well, for starters, a lot of queer people describe feeling 'different' or not 'fitting in' through childhood and young adulthood. I never had that problem, because the people I lived with were already 'different' by human standards. You're probably aware that the Gethenians are biologically ambisexual - androgynous for about 26 days out of every 30, and capable of becoming either male or female in any given reproductive cycle. Then too, San Francisco has been known as a center of queer culture since the 20th century - it's little wonder so many people come out in the Academy. I've been lucky, too, in that pretty much everywhere I've gone has been pretty tolerant. It didn't always work that way; up until 2012, evidence of homosexual behavior would get you thrown out of the American armed forces, and all non-heterosexuals, even those who publicly recanted their sexuality and led heterosexual lives, were banned from military and most branches of civilian public service from the social upheavals of 2020 to the formation of the United Earth government in 2113.

"At any rate, to answer your question... it's not at the forefront of my identity, I don't run around waving the rainbow flag or chasing skirts, but it's a part of me, just like my identity as a human, or a colonist, or a physician, or a psychosomatic talent."

"Does Ensign Maxwell feel the same way?"

Karen laughed at that. "Well, for that you'd have to ask her." She glanced at the wall chrono, wincing as she noticed that almost two hours had elapsed. "Oh, no - I told my staff I'd be back in Sickbay an hour ago, so I do have to get back. Did this help at all, or did I just confuse you further?"

"No, Doctor, I found your explanation most enlightening. Thank you."

**23:55 - Dot's Diner**  
Stryker was partipating in a security drill to find an intruder in the Jeffries Tubes. As he was climbing a ladder, his hand slipped and he fell 4 meters onto metal and plastasteel floor.

**00:15  
Sickbay**

"Hey," Alice grinned bouncing in, "How's the patient?"

"Bored," Stryker replied.

"And irritable," Demi threw in as he brought in coffee for everyone. Demi was giving AK-1 the mother of all death glares. He kept his distance.

"That is nothing out of the ordinary," Dr. Karen mentioned getting three amazed looks.

"I hate being unable to move," Stryker told his medical 'captors', "And I hate not being able to work."

"We'll be done in a few minutes." Dr. Karen tried to assure the Edenian.

The door hissed open and in came a runing toddler, Meredith Barrichello, her mom behind her, Meredith wrapped her arms around Karen's leg, she was holding her mother's bra and said "Look ! Big and White !" the toddler gleemed.

Tammy Barrichello was mortified and turned 13 shades of purple in embarrassment.

**0310 hours - Alice and Stryker's bedroom**  
Alice couldn't sleep. She argued with Stryker for about 5 minutes now. He stormed out of the bedroom. "Sorry, i am pregnant and fat and emotional" Alice yelled out after him.

Two hours later, Stryker was awake again, being hailed from Starstation India.

**05:57 hours  
Stryker - Main Bridge**

Captain Rakurai Stryker walked onto the bridge in an unusually happy mood.

"You're sure in a happy mood," Alice noted from the guest chair next to Stryker's, as he took his spot at the command chair.

"I most certainly am," Stryker told her. "Starfleet Command has given us permission to explore the Seraris Regions. If anyone in civilized space hadn't heard of the 'Pretoria' before this mission, after it, they most certainly would."

"The most mysterious sections of the Alpha Quadrant, Seraris Regions ?" Belldandy asked.

"That's right." Stryker said happily.

Liz Archer looked shocked. Belldandy's mouth nearly hung open. Ensign Belldandy was amazed, "How did you manage to pull that off?"

"Admiral Reil Dela is tired of all the mystery surrounding the Seraris Regions, and she felt that the Pretoria was the only ship for the job. Also, if there's anything valuable in the Seraris Regions, we want to have the first grab at it."

Belldandy nodded. "Understandable. Admiral Dela also talked about sending the Intrepid or Enterprise to explore the Seraris Regions some years ago. But how will we get past the Magic barrier ?"

"The what ?" Ensign Kira Tierney asked from tactical.

"The Magic Barrier. Its a subspace sandbar surrounding the Regions." Stryker answered. "It blocks and reflects sensors as well. The Magic Barrier."

"Who named it ?" Belldandy asked, sounding somewhat annoyed.  
"Some Andorian Captain with a warped sense of humour." Stryker answered.

"How will we get through ?" Belldandy asked.  
"For the last 75 years, Starfleet's been weakening a small corridor by subspace manipulation."

Alice felt giddy, "Sounds very exciting."  
"Let's make history." Stryker said trying to contain his excitement, "Helm, plot a course and engage. Warp 9.5"

**06:00 hours - Still the Main Bridge**  
Kretak made it to the bridge just in time for his shift to begin.

"How nice of you to join us," Stryker said as the Gorn hurried to his station.

"Did I miss something, sir?" Kretak asked.

Ensign Liz Archer was smiling. Aerlyn had no expression on her Vulcan face, as usual. "Oh, nothing at all, Lieutenant. Just our explorations of Seraris Regions, the Klingons denouncing all violence, the Borg changing their prosthetic colours from black to periwinkle..."

Kretak had a bewildered expression on his face. "In just one night, sir?"

Alice burst out laughing. Kretak looked at all of them dubiously. Even Stryker started laughing.

**Lt. Alister Maxwell Beta shift, Main Engineering, 0600**

_The frequency of the pulsing light of the warp core instantly told me that we were travelling at maximum cruise velocity. Looks like were off to the unknown then. At last... _He stopped, tok a sip of the coffe from the mug he held in his right hand and observed the personel. _They seem to be in a good mood, let´s see if they´ll stay that way. _He walked ut to the duty station near the office were a young ensign was on duty watching the injectors.

"Ensign Orden report" She looked up from her console.  
"Just moments ago the order for going in to the Searis Region was given. We are at warp 9.5, all stations are manned and (she sounded coky) we're ready for anything." She passed him the Padd with the statusreports from alph shift.  
"Sounds great Ensign. Carry on"  
_Theese long range scans describes the so called magic barrier to be some kind of subspace phenomenon. It will be a problem to hold a stable warp field in those conditions (close to the to for that matter)._ As he arrived at his desk he opened the programs needed to simulate the entrance into the barrier. _It looks like it´s going to be a rough ride. i´m going to need help sorting out the work they have done these past few years. _

Engineering to Stellar chartography "Go ahead."  
Maxwell here. I think I´m going to need help preparing for going through the barrier in the Searis Region. Do you have time to review the sensor data with me and construct an accurate simulation? "Indeed" _She has to be a Vulcan_  
I am on my way.  
"Ensign Orden you´re in charge here."   
"Aye, sir"  
"But call me about anything out of the ordinary. I´ll be in stellar chartography" He said as the doors to turbolift 2 closed behind him/

**Kathryn Delore  
Sickbay- Counselor's Office**

Kathryn looks around the empty room that was going to be her workplace during her time at Pretoria. It was a very large room with a desk, comfortable sofa. Kathryn looked out through the window and say that we where in warp speed.

"Computer, where are we going? "

Kathryn is hearing a soft female voice saying. "We are heading toward Searis Region at warp 9,5. "

Isn't there where the magic belt is? _I should go up to the bridge when I am finished. _Kathryn ha some experience of the area and she felt intriguing to visit the place again. She and her crew had never actually got through the barrier, and to her knowledge now one had so far. She couldn't help wonder what the Captain was going to do there.

Kathryn starts packing up her old fashion books up to the shelves in this empty room. She is irrupted by the door bell. She says and continues packing. "Come!"

A young man in his twenties enters the room. He is dressed in the usual officer suit. He has an enraged expression on his face. His red hair looked almost like it was on fire and the blue eyes stood out by the intense look. He said."Are you Kathryn Belore, the counselor?"

Kathryn smiles and looks at him shortly as she speaks. "Yes, I am. And you are Lt.JG Niles Morgan?"

The man in front of her nod in agreement. He starts to say. "Yes! Look, I really don't need to be here. It is all a misunderstanding.."

Kathryn who still is packing interrupts him and asks. "If I remember correctly it was your command that ordered you to be here."

A silence broke up and Kathryn stopped packing as she watched him during this time. She continued and said. "His statement is that you have some problem with anger management. Several of your officers under you command also stated the same matter. Are you saying that they are all wrong? 

Kathryn could sense a battle in side of him; _Maybe it is not wise to upset him too much. _She decided to take it slow. "Look, since you have to be here today why not make use of the time. It's not like that you have somewhere else to go. Now, you don't want that I get in some trouble, do you?"

Kathryn could feel some hesitating from his side but at least he had cooled off. She saw here chance and continued. "Let's make a deal and say that you don't have to talk about it unless you don't want too. And if you want to talk about anything then I am here for you."

Niles seemed more relaxed now, he asked carefully. "Hmm, If we don't talk then what am I supposed to do here?"

Kathryn gave him a huge smile and said. "Well for starters, you can help me unpacking..As you can see I could needs some help. "

Kathryn points at the huge box on the other side of the room. "You can start there. Just ask if you have any questions. "

Kathryn watched as he went to the box and started unpacking. She took a grab on the old book in front of her and let her fingers feel the material of the book. She could read the title 'Othello'. She thought to herself. _Hmm, he will not open easily. It would be wise to make him acquainted with the thought first before I start. At least this way, I will be finished with the packing much quicker. I should do this more often. _She brings up the book to the shelf.

**The Bridge**  
17:00 hours

Liz enters the door to her quarters, immediately she falls in to the chair in front of her desk in her room. She was exhausted and was leaning backward. Annoyed by a flashing light from her computer screen she lean forward and entered the computer. It was a message to her from Stryker. She almost felled of her chair by surprise. Nervously she opened the message.

To: Ensign Liz Archer  
From: Captain Rakurai Stryker

I want you to report to my office.

Liz thought the message was very short and direct. She couldn't guess what he wanted to talk about. But she couldn't help feeling a bit worried. She knew that he had been watching her lately. Thousand thought filled her head and she gets up from the chair quickly and leaves the room in a hurry. Mike who was standing out side looked surprised as the doors suddenly hissed open and Liz was standing here. Liz didn't take notice to him and went past him. Mike turns around and watches her and looks even more surprised. She shouts after here. "Where are you going?"

Liz mumbles a reply. "I need some is cream, coconut is cream."

Mike was now at her side whistle and said knowing. "You must be very depressed, if you want some ice cream."

Liz stops for a minute and is watching him angrily. She gives him the eye. 'I am warning you, one word more then…'. Then she shrugged her shoulder as she continues her way through the corridor.

Mike wouldn't give up and continues. "Liz come on, tell me what has happed?"

Liz sights deeply and says. "Nothing, really!"

Mike looks at Liz like he doesn't believe her. Liz gives up. "Fine, I just got a letter from Stryker that I have to go to his office 0800 tomorrow."

Mike looked calm and raised his eyebrow. He said. "Oh, only that! And I thought is was something more seriously." 

Liz stopped and looked at him again. She tried to give him an answer, to explain to him what she suspected. What not a word came from her. She gives him a sour face and says. "You wouldn't understand so forget it!"

**Lt. Alister Maxwell - Main Engineering **

**1100hrs**

_Well that was interesting. Working with Vulcans are always a bit of a drag since they tend to well, not getting emotional about their work. However I love their effectiveness and the dry humour they say they don´t possess._  
As he walked in to his office he activated the intercom at his desk and put the metal cup to his mouth. /\ Engineering to Bridge /\  
"Go ahead Mr. Maxwell." was the response.

/\ As you predicted Captain, the ship will not be able to travel at warp speed after these coordinates. /\ He pushed the panel and the coordinates appeared on the Captains command console and the helm console.  
/\ Agreed. Bridge out. /\

Maxwell leaned back and stretched his neck to relive the muscle tension. "Computer, locate ensign Maxwell" The computer answered. "Ensign Maxwell is at Dot´s diner" _Good, and it´s almost time for lunch._

As he stood up from his chair he had received a written message. It was from the captain. He sat down, opened the message and it appeared to concern something he did not expect.

His face turned in to a grin and said quietly to himself "Now that sounds like fun Captain."

**Alice - Bathroom (in Alice and Stryker's quarters)**

'Battlecruiser' Alice had no warning, stumbled, lost control for just a second. But long enough to fall over, with her left arm Alice made one hell of a crash into bathroom sink. She got up slowly, using the wall. Alice had a drink of water, before returning to the living room.

Alice more or less crashlanded on the couch. The twins were kicking the crap out of her. "I feel like a zombie. My lower back hurts.I have great difficulty sleeping. Now I have you two affecting the sciatic nerve. Now not even walking is a guarantee without falling over."

Alice put her hands over her stomach, "Why are you never tired when I am ?"

The twins just kept on moving and kicking. "Ow !" Alice winced.

A minute later, Alice couldn't take it anymore and stumbled over to the replicator computer interface. "Alice to Sickbay. I need help please."

**Sickbay, Conference Room**

"...So, to sum up, this patient suffered a cardiac arrest due to accidental nanite embolization during a routine coronary angioplasty. Although the response of the care team to the event itself cannot be faulted, several factors that led to the event were completely preventable. This incident points out the need for greater caution during cardiovascular procedures."

_Well, that's a nice polite way to say you damn near killed the guy,_ Karen thought, keeping her face carefully neutral as she listened to the junior resident hedge his way through the presentation. She'd hated Morbidity and Mortality rounds at UC due to the intense, sometimes downright malignant questioning that ensued whenever a patient's life was endangered or ended by caregiver error. However, she did have to admit that the hellish prospect of having a "Death and Donuts" held in your honor provided a wonderful incentive to make sure that if any patient was going to shuffle off, it wasn't your fault and it wasn't on your shift. Given the number of times this particular second-year had presented at M&M's lately, she rather suspected that Starfleet Medical's easygoing, let's-not-blame-anyone approach to adverse patient events wasn't getting through to him.

Over in the corner, Dechil Strauss looked positively turquoise, wringing his hands in dismay. He'd been the senior on duty the night Chief Thorvaldson had coded, and when Karen arrived in Sickbay, he'd attempted to take the blame for the error himself. A few discreet questions to the nursing staff, however, had uncovered the true course of events.

"Thank you for your presentation, Dr. Andropov," one of the other MDs said, but Karen held up one hand. "Ah, I have a few questions, if you don't mind, _Doctor,_" she said, leaning heavily on the last word, and a few of the nurses and techs exchanged glances. "Could you relate for me again the results of the patient's pre-op arteriogram?"

/\

Twenty minutes later, as the attendees filed out of the conference room - one sporting a new verbal colostomy - one of the techs tapped Karen on the arm. "Doctor, we've got incoming. Human female G2, reports in distress related to pregnancy, but no specifics. It's Mrs. Brangwin, ma'am."

"Oh dear." Karen ran a hand through her hair, thinking. "She's what, six, seven months along now?"

"27 weeks, ma'am."

"Hmm. Even for human infants that's early." Her mind clicked through the checklist she'd written for just such occasions. "Grab a couple of people, go into OR 3 and convert it over to an OB/GYN layout, and see if we have any L&D case packs. If not, replicate them. Once that's done, activate Demi and make sure her OB matrix is loaded. Also, get on the line with SFMed and find out where the nearest facility is that has a real OB unit. In all likelihood this is nothing serious, but I'm taking no chances here."

_At least, I hope to God it's nothing serious,_ Karen thought. Although the EMH did incorporate a specialty matrix for obstetrics and gynecology, and in theory any doctor could run an uncomplicated labor and delivery, the facts remained that nobody had ever managed a singleton human/Edenian hybrid pregnancy before, let alone twins. Then too, while the convertible ORs in Suite One could be used as L&D rooms, there was no obstetrician on the Pretoria's staff, nor did the department include a nursery.

A few seconds later, the techs came through the doors from triage with Alice on a stretcher. "Hi there, Mrs. Brangwin," Karen said, smiling. "I understand the kids are giving you a hard time today?"

**Liz Archer  
Entering the bridge  
Hours 0800**

Liz looked around and walked with heavy steps to the door connecting to the Captain's office. She takes a deep breath and makes her announcements. She tried to harden herself to any criticism. She could hear Stryker's voice from the other side of the door. "Come".

The doors switch open and she saw Captain Stryker sitting behind his desk.

"Ensign Elizabeth Archer. Step forward." Stryker said. Liz steps forward and stands in front of him. She looks at the Captain with a somber expression. He continues. 

"You come onboard Pretoria, two and a half years ago. Your service has been exemplary, your dedication is strong. When Commander Khetrha left over a year ago, you and Alice took over the duties of XO on an unofficial capacity. And soon, you were doing most of it. I have noticed your hard work. I have to admit I was hoping the Dragon would return."

This was not at all what Liz had expected. But suddenly things started to make sense to her. He had been testing her pushing her to the limit during these last weeks. Stryker continued his speech.

"I do hereby promote you to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and the position of acting First Officer with all the rights and privileges of said rank."

Liz took a deep breath of surprise. She had a strange sensation of not really being there, but still. She had been waiting for this moment since Academy, but not in her wildest dreams she could imagine that she would be promoted to Lieutenant Commander so fast, and not at least to acting First Officer.

He allowed a little smile as he pinned one golden pip and one black, onto her uniform. "As soon as you complete Command Training, you will become the official First Officer."

Liz nodded as reply as she ran a finger along her neckline over the 3 pips. Liz felt a sensation of joy and she caught herself smiling. .

Stryker smiled. "Don't wear them out Commander." a voice said playfully. She turned across to face the smiling face of Captain Sharon Edwards, Liz's favorite teacher at the Academy. "Thank you." Liz said, scared that this will likely be the last time she'd meet her. "Thank you for your help and encouragement."

She turned to Stryker and said determined. "I won't let you down, Captain."

Stryker said with a smile. "I am sure you won't, Commander."  
Liz still felling like she was floating on clouds, calmed herself down and had a neutral expression on her face. Stryker continued talking as they all sits down on the sofa in his office. "I can inform you that your training starts immediately. Sharon Edwards will stay onboard to observe your command training."

Liz looked at her and saw her former teacher blinking her eyes and confirming Stryker's statement. Liz was happy to hear this. Stryker continued. "And of course I and Alice will also instruct your training. Here is all the information you need now."

Stryker hands out a pad to Liz and she takes it and quickly reviews the information. Liz nodded and said with some after thought. "I understand."

As Liz looks through the pad Sharon talks to Stryker. "I heard that you are going to the Magical Barrier. "

Stryker clears his throat and says eagerly. "Yes. No one in Starfleet knew really anything about this phenomenon. It is about time they send someone to investigate the Barrier. Since I have always wanted to study this phenomenon, they decided to send my ship. Unfortunately we have some competition! "

"Yes, so I heard. They also assign USS Enterprise to this task." Stryker nods in agreement. Sharon asks. "Is it true that it is almost impossible to use warp speed and have to use impulse speed instead?"

Liz replies. "Actually, there is 92 possibility that the Pretoria will be unable to use warp engines. It will take up to 6 weeks to go through the Barrier. We just recently got a new chief engineer, Alister Maxwell. If it is true about his competence then I am sure that we will beat Picard and his old Enterprise. "

They all laughed.

**Alister Maxwell - Main Engineering**

**0847 hrs**

In the opening to the chief engineers office two officers stand. Maxwell with a LED tool in one hand and a metal coffee cup in the other. Ensign Orden had apparently said something to upset the luitenant.

"What do you mean, we have two captains on board?" Maxwell said, with a somewhat annoyed voice. The olive skinned brunette replied, "Yes the captain came aboard yesterday, I think. Anyway her name is Captain Sharon Edwards and I think she is going to hold some kind of course in command education." And she added with a smile " Perhaps she saw your special needs for education and followed you here from Earth, sir."

"It was Jupiter station." He grunted "And don´t you have somewhere to be ensign Orden."  
"No, not really sir."  
"Well you´d better or I´ll have you monitoring the plasma flows manually for the rest of this mission."  
"You can´t mean that sir."  
"Can´t you take a hint Orden?"

Suddenly the intercom interrupted their conversation.  
/\" Bridge to engineering" /\   
/\ "Maxwell here" /\  
/\ "Which one?" /\  
/\ "Very funny Ensign Archer, very funny." /\   
/\ "That´s commander Archer to you sir." /\   
/\ "Oh, sorry about that, news apparently does´nt travel fast on this ship. Congratulations to you promotion. Now, tell me. why did you call?" /\  
/\ "It looks like this assignment is going to be a race to the barrier and beyond between us and the flagship of the fleet." /\  
/\ "The Enterprise ?" /\  
/\ "That´s the one. Now, I want some alternatives on my desk before 0930" /\  
/\ "Understood. Maxwell out." /\  
"Orden, looks like I´m going to need your help. We need to find a way to increase our speed while we are inside the barrier."

**0930 Hrs. Maxwell - Observation lounge.**  
The luitenant is standing up in front of the display on the wall. The available senior staff attending.

"We have worked out a theory on how to obtain faster than light travel within the subspace barrier. What you see here on the display behind me is a graphic demonstration of the corridor in the vicinity of the point that star fleet have worked on modifying. As you see there is a slight change in field density. Those changes are something that can be described as a breeding area or similar for this array of subspace vacuoles. As you see here." 

He changed the picture to one of a web or neuron like structure. "The array of vacuoles form a web through out the barrier from our side to the other. If we modify the main deflector I belive it´s possible to emit a field that can function as a grappling hook that can let the Pretoria hitch a ride at about warp 1.2. The main setback is the probable amount of inverse strain the ship have to endure but we should be able to compensate for that by increasing shield strength by 13."

**Rakurai Stryker - Observation Lounge**  
Maxwell was standing up in front of the display on the wall. The available senior staff was present already.

"We have worked out a theory on how to obtain faster than light travel within the subspace barrier. What you see here on the display behind me is a graphic demonstration of the corridor in the vicinity of the point that star fleet have worked on modifying. As you see there is a slight change in field density. Those changes are something that can be described as a breeding area or similar for this array of subspace vacuoles. As you see here."

He changed the picture to one of a web or neuron like structure. "The array of vacuoles form a web through out the barrier from our side to the other. If we modify the main deflector I belive it´s possible to emit a field that can function as a grappling hook that can let the Pretoria hitch a ride at about warp 1.2. The main setback is the probable amount of inverse strain the ship have to endure but we should be able to compensate for that by increasing shield strength by 13."

"Can that be done ?" Stryker asked Lt. Alister Maxwell.

"Yes sir." was the Chief Engineer's answer.

"Get started immediately. Get any number of engineers you need. I feel a need to crush the competion." Stryker said, a dark grin almost forming on his face.

"Dismissed." Lt.-Cmdr. Liz Archer told the junior staff. When they all left, she turned to Stryker. "Did you understand any of that engineering lingo ?"

"Except for the part about the shields ... No. Not one bit." Stryker replied, with a whimsical smile.

**Sickbay**

"These are not babies, I seem to have a pair of octopi inside of me." Alice told Karen. "I hurt my arm too. And I need coffee."

"Very funny," a mystery voice said. Demi holo-materialized a few seconds later.

Picking up a tricorder, Karen ran a fast scan of the injured limb. "Well, the arm is easily fixed, at least. You're going to have a lovely bruise, but nothing's broken. As for hot beverages, I can offer you decaffeinated coffee or herbal tea - as much as you're probably craving real-deal java right now, caffeine will only make the twins more hyper."

"Decaf. Is this what I've sunk to?" Alice asked rhetorically, which got a laugh from the assembled medical team. "Chamomile will have to do, I suppose. Heaven knows these two don't need any more energy..."

"Chamomile it is, then." Karen closed the tricorder and returned the device to its storage rack before continuing. "Dr. Hernandez will finish taking care of you."

Alice frowned at that. "Why?"

"She has a full OB/GYN matrix, and I have almost no experience in that field. I will be back to check on you, though."

**Sickbay**

When Karen returned an hour and a half later, carrying a steaming cup of chamomile tea, Demi immediately pulled her aside into one of the workstations, and judging by the guarded look on the hologram's face, the news wasn't all rosy. "What's the scoop?"

"The twins are normal for gestational age, developing fine - no problems at all. I indicated the sex of both infants in the chart, doctor's eyes only - I wasn't sure if they wanted to know or not. Mrs. Brangwin, on the other hand..." Demi handed over a chart PADD. "She's got sugar in her urine and her fasting blood glucose tested 160, so I did a glucose challenge test..."

Karen scanned over the PADD, and tried not to wince. "Gestational diabetes. Fabulous. No wonder the twins are so active - they're on a gigantic sugar high."

Demi nodded in agreement. "That was my assessment as well. What do you want to do?"

"Diet and exercise first, then insulin if we can't get her sugar down."

"I concur. Do you want to talk to her, or should I?"

"I'll do it. Thanks, Demi." Dropping the PADD into her lab coat pocket, Karen walked into the main ward.

"So, can you tell me what's going on with these monsters?" Alice asked as Karen approached.

"As soon as I find a home for this teacup..." After a moment's search, Karen located a nearby Mayo stand, rolled it over and set the tea down on it, and then grabbed a rolling stool for herself. "Sorry about that."

"That's all right. Thank you for the tea, K... Doctor." Much like Stryker, Alice tripped over the attempted informality.

"Well, the good news is that the twins are perfectly healthy. They're growing at almost exactly the rate we predicted, and the internal scan and the amnio indicated no problems at all. Did you want to know what they are?"

"No, we decided we wanted it to be a surprise," Alice said, smiling a little. "You were saying...?"

"Right. We did find out why they're so active. You've developed a condition called gestational diabetes, which is a condition of elevated blood sugar that sometimes happens in pregnant women. In short, the kids are having a big sugar high, and that's what's making them active all the time."

Alice frowned, letting that sink in. "How serious is it? Can it be treated?"

"With this profile, it's more serious for you than for them. The worst that can happen to the twins at this point is that they'll be larger than average, which can make delivery a little tough. You, on the other hand, we'll have to watch for diabetes after you deliver, and you'll need to be followed very carefully if you and the Captain decide to have any more children. As for treatment, it's absolutely treatable. What we normally do is prescribe a low-sugar, low-carbohydrate diet, have you get at least 30 minutes of low-impact exercise - walking, swimming, and so forth - every day, and have you check your blood sugar daily. For 80 of women, that regimen works wonders. In the event we can't get your sugar down with that, we add insulin to the program. However, I suspect you'll do just fine with just diet and exercise."

"All right." There was a faint note of apprehension in the other woman's voice as she asked, "What do you think might have caused it?"

"Certainly nothing you did or didn't do," Karen replied. "Most of the time it's idiopathic - that's doctor-speak for 'it happened for no apparent reason.' There's a higher risk in those who have a family history of diabetes, but even now we really can't predict who will get it."

"But you're sure they're all right?"

Karen just smiled as she got up to fetch a portable monitor, a tricorder and an OB peripheral. "Don't ask me. Ask them."

The look of unadulterated joy on Alice's face as she watched the twins on the monitor was truly priceless.

**Alice - Corridors outside of Sickbay**

Alice was intending to go to Dot's Diner, but her mind was in a _wow_ daze, so Alice wandered the corridors around sickbay.

**Rakurai Stryker - Bridge**  
Stryker and Liz was nervous as they led the bridge crew through the Magic Barrier. They were flanked by Captain Sharon Edwards and Counselor Kathryn Delore, sitting on the guest seats.

Everyone heard a weird sound, a moan of metal. Stryker almost instinctively ducked. The moaning continued, it sounded like metal being crushed and torn apart. "What is that ?" Stryker asked nervously.

"Ablative armor damage ..." Ensign Belldandy replied. "Negligible. Shields and Structural Integrity at 90 "

"Slow to Warp 1.1" Captain Sharon Edwards suggested.

"Agreed." Stryker nodded. "Transfer more power to Structural Integrity and Shields."

**45 minutes later  
Ready Room**  
Captains Sharon Edwards and Rakurai Stryker met privately in his Ready Room.

"Are you tired Captain." she told him.

"Yes."

"Why don't you take off for a few hours. Liz and I can handle things for the time being."

Stryker sighed. But atleast it wasn't a counselsor telling him the same thing. Jessica Williams told him a few years ago, _Starship Captains are made of a different cloth. Only one of a million is right for this job._

About thinking up excuses to stay on the bridge, and failing, Stryker agreed.

**Lt. Alister Maxwell - Main engineering**

Agreed." Stryker nodded. "Transfer more power to Structural Integrity and Shields."

"Structural integrity field at 90 and holding luitenant." Lt. Koral reported. Maxwell rubbed his neck to relive the tension that had build up during the initial stages of trying to reach warp speed within the barrier.  
"Keep up the good work Lt. I want you to monitor the structural integrity field 24-7. I will put together a team to relive you in a while."  
"Hey, chief" Koral said. Maxwell turned as he was on his way to his office.  
"This is a brilliant piece of engineering. You put together that list and take some time of. I´ll handle things from here and keep you posted."  
"Sounds like a plan. And, thanks I know." He said with a grin.

**About one hour later**  
**Lt. Alister Maxwell - Dot´s Diner**  
The engineer sits calmly at the bar sipping on a lime-color drink. The light from the top on the desk shines smoothly and it makes him calm. Resting. Suddenly a voice from behind.

"Chief."  
"Captain" Maxwell starts trying to get to his feet but Stryker signals he should´nt. Instead he sits down at the bar beside the engineer. No one of the two men are the first to speak when suddenly they start at the same time, which happens twice and in a chorus "You go ahead."

"This was awkward. Anyway I was on my way to the holodeck and I wondered if you´ld like to join me." Stryker asked the Chief Engineer.

"Well, Captain that sounds nice. Yes, I´d like that."

As the two men walked to the holodeck the captain asked. "Now, what is it you wanted to ask"

"Well it´s nothing really" _Maybe these questions are to personal. No, nothing is better than going personal when you´re trying to break the ice._

"Yes, it is something."

"Ok, I wanted to ask how it feels to wait to become a father, that was my first question and the next was. Does the green skin itch when it´s dry." he said with a grin.

"Ok, I wanted to ask how it feels to wait to become a father, that was my first question and the next was. Does the green skin itch when it´s dry." Maxwell asked with a grin.

"To become a father. Well, it is mostly something like uncontrollable fear and great uncertainty. And something of amazing joy. My _sister_ already had a daughter, little Sparky as I call her, is already grown up now. As for my skin, it become sensitive after about four hours, and highly irritable after seven hours. Then I reallly do need to go swimming."

**Holodeck 19**  
The night sky stretched across Tokyo, Japan as the sun disappeared below the horizon.

A pair of highly modified cars revved up their cars as they drove to a large secluded street in the industrial part of Tokyo. Alister Maxwell and Rakurai Stryker was about to face off against each other. Only the orange street lights lit the road. The moon was hidden behind the clouds. Alister drove a white Toyota MR2 to the starting line.

Stryker revved up the engine of his Honda S2000. Appropriate music blasted from a nearby boom box, "Space Boy"

Alister and Stryker watched a woman, vaguely 18 years of age, with orange hair in pig tails grab two flags and walk slowly to the starting line. She put the flags up, signaling to the drivers to get ready.

Alister seeing the flag raised moved his foot over the gas pedal. The flag girl suddenly dropped her flags and yelled "GO!"

Stryker hearing and seeing the flag go down pressed his foot hard against the gas pedal. Alister peeled out, the moment he cleared turn one, he pressed a little red button on his steering column, and sent a spray of NOS into his car's engine. The sudden rush of speed pressed Alister back against his seat, and the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He tightly held on the steering wheel, not wanting to lose control of his car while in this mode. He topped out at 240 kmh.

Stryker cleared turn 12 and smirked at the painted signs on the road, it "suggested" the speed limit was 50. The Edenian looked at his speedometer, it told him he was doing 90. Then Stryker used his nitro.

Alister felt the car going even faster, his engine tempature went up, almost in the danger zone. Behind him he saw a little blue car catching up. Alister was in the lead ahead of Stryker by a full car length, but that wasn't good enough, he had to stay in the lead.

The MR2 was a length and a half now in front of Stryker's car, but not for long. Stryker was quickly gaining on him, and soon, he passed Alister's car.

The highway left the city and gave way to hilly terrain. Mt. Akagi was famous for its dangerous curbs. Both races could hear the roaring of the engines, the cheers of the crowd parked around turn 19 and 20. Stryker extended his lead to six lengths after turn 25, a short medium left. Alister fought to close the gap, centimeter by painful centimeter.

Stryker felt really sick, the same way he does before something terrible is about to happen.

They floored the accelarator going through a series of four S-curves, but Alister's able to take them at full speed, and he passed Stryker, now less than a car's length ahead Stryker going into turn 29. Alister approached the next turn, 600 meters ahead. Stryker took back the lead using his favorite technique by using gutter.

Stryker clenched his hands tightly on the steering wheel and the gear stick, respectively.

Strkyer drifted hard at the entry of turn 31 before he changed the direction of the car, ready for another tight corner. He floored the gas, dragging in third gear as he exited the corner. The holodeck spectators were excited and astonished at the S2000 driver's skill. The S2000 was less than 90 centimeters gap from the guardrail each time it drifted.

Alister was unimpressed, as he managed to keep up with his opponent. The white MR2 and blue S2000 skidded side by side around the wide turn 36 and 37 when Stryker's Honda suddenly had a blowout. The two cars collided. Metal screamed and glass shattered.

For the briefest of moments, the rising cars almost looked graceful in its ascent-- a ballerina of glinting ivory--before plummeting into guard rail.

The holodeck grid had an overload and shut down, leading the only real people in a leap, lying on the grid of yellow and black lines.

When the world stopped spinning around Alister, he grimaced, "How do you feel?"

It was a really stupid question to ask but he had to ask it. Stryker blinked up at the Engineer, in a voice that sounded faintly childish he answered him, "Has my head exploded yet?"

Alister chuckled lightly, and shook his head, "No. No, it's still all there."

"Oh..." Stryker thought about this a moment, and didn't pull away when Alister turned his head to inspect his eyes, "Well it's going to soon."

Stryker grunted in pain as the two men slowly tried to stand up.

"Yes." Alister agreed.

**Outside Holodeck 19**  
Alister and Stryker limped to sickbay. Both of them had moderte injuries and getting strange looks coming from a few crewmen. "I hope Karen isn't in there." Stryker told Alister.

"Tell me about it." Alister grimaced.

**Sickbay, Main Ward**

"All right, Ensign, that should take care of you," Karen said as she scribbled onto a prescription PADD and handed it to the young trainee helmsman. "You need to stay off that leg for the next week, and come back in two weeks to check things over and remove the casts, all right?"

"Thanks, Doc," the kid replied, hobbling out the doors on a newly issued pair of crutches. "See you in two weeks."

"Another day, another Holodeck casualty," Karen mused as she continued through the day's patient load. It did seem like an inordinate number of patients were having unfortunate run-ins with Deck Nineteen lately - in addition to the kid who'd just left with the torn ACL and shattered ankles (the Whistler Back Bowls simulation), in the past week the staff had seen third-degree burns from a walk in the Kilauea program, hand and face scalds during a tea ceremony in an Edo-period holonovel, crushed extremities while boulder climbing on Vulcan, a severe concussion from a golf ball to the head, and one case of near-drowning while swimming on Risa. She'd called Engineering about it twice, but they couldn't seem to find anything wrong with the unit, so the staff had resorted to cautioning their patients to observe safety protocols and refrain from overtly dangerous Holodeck pursuits.

Just then the overhead page went off. "Dr. Coleridge to Triage please, Dr. Coleridge to Triage."

A few seconds' walk brought her out to the triage desk. "What's up, Nikki?" she asked the triage nurse.

"Another couple of Nineteeners, both with hand, face and leg burns, rule-out concussion, rule-out spinal trauma. This time it was Banzai Racing."

"Who hit the unlucky 19 this time?"

"Captain Stryker and Lieutenant Maxwell."

_Oh, this is going to be good..._

/\

"Really, I might have expected this level of asininity from first-year cadets, but a starship captain and a future father? If your idea of a wholesome afternoon outing includes bombing around a racetrack at 200 kilometers an hour, I fear for your children's futures. What would have happened if you'd wrecked like this with the twins in the back seats? And as long as we're on the subject of kids, how do you ever expect to raise them with good health habits when Daddy can't even be bothered to get his low blood pressure and skin infection evaluated?"

"You're out of line, Doctor," Stryker growled, flushing pink, but Karen met his angry expression head-on.

"Oh, am I. Judging by your workup, you've probably been having dizzy spells, headaches and incurable itching for the past week or so, but you figured it would just go away if you ignored it long enough. If you'd come in then, it would have been a quick prescription and out the door, but now, it's going to take a course of vasopressors and IV antibiotics, on top of your injuries. That's a lot of wasted time and resources. With all due respect, that's not a real brilliant plan of action, sir."

Stryker grumbled at that, but decided to say nothing.

"You're not going to say anything to Alex about this, I hope?" Alister asked.

"No, I am not going to say anything to her. If nothing else, I'd never insult her intelligence by implying that her brother pulled such an idiotic stunt. Let me guess: you were the one who disabled the safety protocols."

"Uh, well, we thought..."

"I highly doubt it," Karen retorted.

"But the protocols won't let you race full out..."

"You of all people ought to know the protocols are there for a reason."

After treating the last of the engineer's injuries, she stepped back, arms folded. "You two are free to go, but so help me, if you get hurt monkeying with the safeties again..."

/\

**Holodeck One  
Four hours later**

"Amateurs," Karen chuckled as she stood in the women's surgical locker, changing from her uniform into a heavy flight suit-style racing outfit. Stryker and Alister had both taken off out of Sickbay like the furies were chasing them, both wearing an assortment of bandages and thoroughly chagrined expressions. She'd had a grand time pretending to read them the riot act; in fact, she was surprised Stryker hadn't suspected something when the staff kept suddenly excusing themselves to go laugh in the storage closet.

As she'd known going in, Holodeck One was running 'Banzai Racing,' and a check of the screen showed two racers on the course. "Oh, you boys are SO going down," she laughed to herself as she saw 'Nuts n' Bolts' and 'Kawaii' blazing around the hairpins at the 5-km marker.

Karen locked her helmet on, completing the disguise. The suit with its reinforced torso plates hid everything that might identify a racer's gender, and with the HUD visor down, her face was completely obscured.

"Computer, join game in progress, profile 'Ice Cube.'"

"Profile loaded. Enter when ready."

**Wren - Sickbay**

Wren was scanning the list of medications that were written during the last 3 months when the Captain and Chief Engineer come in with injuries, burns and alot of cuts. He wanted to excuse himself from the sight of blood. _Interesting_, he thought, _Edenians have yellow blood._

Then some conversation later, the junior medtechs excused themselves and went into the supply closet for some unknown reason. _This crew seems really eccentric. Too many months away from home, I suppose._

**Alice - Dot's Diner**

Alice met Stryker, Liz, Mike Anderson, the new counselour Kathryn Delore after their shifts at Dot's Diner. They sat down together and ordered food.

"What is it like to have babies inside ?" Mike asked Alice.

"Sort of neat, but sort of strange I guess. Especially given how active the twins have been recently" Alice answered.

Liz was intruged and sat up a little straighter, "You can feel them moving right?"

"Yes. But its awfully hard to tell their heads from their backside" Alice mentioned.

"Really ?" Kathryn Delore inquired.

Liz smiled, "Must be boys."

Mike gave Liz a mock glare.

**Alister Maxwell - Aboretum**

The engineer sits down on a sofa placed under some kind of bolian palm tree, he guessed anyway. A deep exhale displays the fatigue as he lets his face meet the artificial sunlight comeing from the roof and searching it´s way through the branches and leaves an intricate pattern of shadows on his face.

_Relaxing on the holodeck with the captain._ He smiles to himself. _That´s a laugh. I´m going to have to check up on that holodeck. We can´t have people coming out of there with injuries despite the fact that the safety parameters are on. But it will have to wait._ He turns to his right and let his eyes rest on som kind of yellow horseshoe orchid. _Those things aren´t easy to grow. I wonder how they do it._

Suddenly he feels the ship jerk. He jumps up and calls  
Maxwell to engineering, what is happening down there?  
Well, sir. You better get down here.  
I´m on my way

As he walked to the turbolift he realised his right hand had started to shake again. It had done that during stressful situations since the war. He uses his other hand to rub it, trying to make it stop as he walks in to the turbolift. "Deck 33, stardrive. "

**Capt Rakurai Stryker - Outside Alice and Stryker's Quarters**

He was on his way to Dot's Diner, to surprise Alice when the floor shook violently. Stryker lost his balance, moving forward first, then backwards, gravity was offline, so he went flying. About ten seconds later he collided with Ensign Alexandra Maxwell, Cadet Kira Tierney and the Bolian helmsmen, Ert Dse Ularhe.

"Sorry" Ensign Ert Dse Ularhe said.

The four were in an awkard position in midair in close proximity, hands and feet everywhere. Then gravity was restored, they fell to the floor. More apologies were said before they went their seperate directions.

**Corridor, Outside Dot's Diner**

Like Stryker, Karen had been on her way to Dot's to join Alex for dinner, but no sooner had she stepped off the turbolift than a sharp jolt shook the deck, knocking her off balance. A second later, the artificial gravity failed, leaving crewmen floating all over the deck.

Reflexively, she tapped her commbadge, even though she wasn't on call. "Coleridge to Sickbay. You guys okay down there?"

_"We're fine, Doctor,"_ the duty nurse replied. _"Is there a problem?"_

"There was a jolt or an explosion of some kind outside Dot's, and we just lost gravity. You might want to prep for incoming."

_"We're on it. Thanks for the heads-up - now go enjoy your dinner. Sickbay out."_

Karen smiled at the nurse's protectiveness, but the smile was short-lived as the gravity was suddenly restored, unceremoniously dumping everyone on the deck. A chorus of "oof!", "ow!" and a litany of curses filled the air.

/\

As Karen walked into Dot's and made her way toward the back of the room, she blinked in astonishment at the sight before her. "You know, when I imagined you covered in whipped cream, this isn't quite what I had in mind..."

"Pervert," Alex replied playfully, wiping more of the offending confection from her face. "Sabaqwa had a special on banana cream pies for tonight's dessert menu. Problem was, when the gravity quit again, two of them floated off the waitress' tray. Gravity came back on, and voila..."

"Engineer a la mode. Why don't you go clean that off, and I'll order the drinks?"

Alex smiled roguishly. "Sure you don't want to help?"

"Now who's being a pervert?"

**Lt Alister Maxwell Main Engineering**

As the elevator doors opened and revealed the chief engineer one of the officers by the deflector control station cried out. "Chief, over here!" Alister ran through the room up to the Trill ensign. "What is it?". There was a brief powersurge in the reactors feeding the main deflector. Somehow the polar areas of the field have been reversed. The strain on the hull has increased by 50 and it´s still rising."  
The computer voice informed "structural integrity field at 75"  
Maxwell took up a PADD and glanced at it. The Trill noticed his hand shaking. Quickly he put the PADD on the console in front of him and started tapping on the controls to the deflector. "The strain is to high." He tapped the communication control on the console. "Engineering to bridge"  
"Bridge" The commander answered.  
"There are some difficulties with the field emittors on the main deflector. The jerk of variating inertia comes from a depolarisation of the" ... he looked at the ensign with a smile..."Our grappling hook has been disabled sir. Through somekind of powerspike. That gave som kind of field bubbles access through the deflector field and on throughout the ship. It may have been experienced like sudden lost of gravity or similar."  
What do you recommend? Archer asked impatiently.  
We will have to emit a inverted field to get us free from the vacuole. Or this will break us apart. It will be a bumpy ride but we have to do it.  
Very well start the preparations for the procedure.  
As the engineers started working on the inverse field the voice of the first officer sounded throughout the ship.

All hands this is the XO. Brace for impact. Impact in 2 minutes on the computers countdown. Her voice was replaced by the computers. "Impact in one minute and fifty seven seconds. Impact in...

**Capt Rakurai Stryker - Vertical Jeffries Tubes between Decks 5 and 6**

Stryker was climbing the Jeffries Tubes ladder since transporters went knocked offline and turbolifts were set so only engineering and medical staff have access to them.

He reached the Bridge, 4 minutes later. Engineering pulled through with 23 seconds to spare, and Lt.-Commander Elizabeth Archer just experienced her first crisis. "Well done Liz." Stryker said.

He wondered if she felt overwhelmed. Her anxiety levels were so high, Stryker could smell sweat, proberly from the armpits, and definitly from the back of her neck. But given the fact that Human and Betazoids females makes such a big deal out of something like that (a bad learned lesson after telling Alice and Captain Jessica Williams **that** in public, _oops! _) Stryker decided to pull Liz aside in 5 minutes and tell her in private she may need a shower.

**Lt. Alister maxwell - Dot´s diner**

After he had ordered some minor repairs to the emittor array on the main deflector, Alister took a much needed break and was now sitting at one of the tanles at the far end of the room. The table is dim litted and as Conselor Delore approached the table he tried very hard to hide his shaking right hand under the table.

"Hello, Alister. may I ?" She asked with a soft voice.

"Please do Kathryn."  
"How are things down in engineering?"

"Fine, just fine. Some repairs on the deflector dish but otherwise fine." he felt almost scared faced with having to sit at the same tale as the counsellor. _Why?_ He asked himself and that left an echo in his head. There was no answer.

"I can sense that youré troubled. And I think I know why. i have just spoken to Luitenant Vaxx Scell on the Olympus."

"Oh, and what did he say?"

"He said that he repeatedly has ordered you to see a counsellor ever since he stopped treating you after you left the rapid response fleet for Earth. And you´ve never complied. Why?"

"First of all I want you to know that Counsellor Vaxx Scell loves to hear his own voice more than his patients. He was always telling me how things were and how I should try to heal my emotional wounds from being stuck on that rock for almost half a year. Get in touch with, in touch with..." His hand had had started to shake so much that when he reached for his mug he accidently spilled it out. As he reached for the napkin and started to clean up the spilled coffe he said. "I didn't want to listen to his advice because he didn't listen to me. I think it was some kind of cultural thing. He is a Bolian and they are comforted by talking and talking and..."

"Alister will you talk to me? I´ll promise to listen. You have problems to such an amount that they are displayed physically. Your hand is just an example."

"Is it that obvious?"

"No, not really. only to the attentive eye." she said with a little smile.

They started a casual conversation which did them both good. "One more thing Kathryn. Weren't you the officer that greeted me when i served on starbase prime for a short while?"

"Yes, I think I did. That´s where I remember you from." She said with a smile.

"It feels good talking to you. I hope you know how much comfort you infuse. And, yes, I will talk to you." He said as he left the table.

_Kathryn you´ve out done yourself._ She thought with a little silent laugh to herself a she reached for her mint tea.

**Captain Rakurai Stryker - Corridor outside Alice and Stryker's quarters**

Alice was heard yelling at Stryker, and he stormed out of their quarters.

A few doors down, Sammy was heard yelling at Tiko, he too stormed out of their quarters. "Alice having a bad day ?" Tiko asked Stryker.

"Can you tell ?" Stryker answered sarcastically. "How did we get ourselves into this bad day in pregnancy mess ?"

**Captain Rakurai Stryker - Bridge**

"We have entered the Seraris Regions!" Ensign Belldandy announced. "ETA to System Alpha 1 in fifteen minutes. The sensor blocking effect of the Magic Barrier is starting to wear off."

"We did it!" Liz exclaimed.

"We most certainly did," Stryker commented. "Mr. Kretak, begin sensor scans of System Alpha 1."

"Aye, sir."

"Status of the Enterprise ?" Stryker inquired.

"At last data burst comminique, they were travelling at three quarters impulse. Light damage reported. ETA: 5 days."

**15 minutes later**

"We have reached System Alpha 1," Belldandy reported.

"Lay in a course for Planet Five." Stryker ordered the young Bijani.

"Aye, sir."

Lt.-Cmdr. Liz Archer whirled around to face the captain. "Sir, belay that order."

Stryker nodded, "Belay that order, Ensign." Now Stryker had a mystified expression on his face. "What is the matter?"

"Planets Five and Six are surrounded by dronium particles; we cannot go into their orbits."

Stryker frowned. "Dronium particles? Aren't they supposed to be rare?"

"The concentrations here are too dense to have been caused by a natural source."

Kretak paused. "Sensor scans have confirmed that there are ruins of a highly advanced civilization on Planet Five. Negative lifesigns but ... there is an incoming carrier wave. I think that carrier wave is evidence that a computer system is still operational."

"I recommend that we send over an away team to investigate." acting-XO Liz told Stryker.

"Agreed. Belldandy, full stop." Stryker said, a nervous feeling gnawing at him.

"Aye, sir."

"Yellow alert ?" Liz asked Stryker. 

"Yes." Stryker said. "Belldandy. Dronium particles usually means a lack of breathable atmosphere right ?"

"Yes sir."

Stryker tapped his combadge. /\ "Bridge to Doctor Coleridge. I need you for an away team mission plus one medtech." /\ Stryker opened a link, three-way now between Coleridge, the Bridge and Engineering. /\ "Bridge to Engineering. Lt. Maxwell. I need you for an away team mission plus one engineer. EV suits and magnetic boots is required. We launch in 30 minutes."

"Liz, Kretak. You are with me." Stryker said.

"Captain." Liz replied, "See you in private for a minute ?"

**Ready Room**  
"Captains stay on the bridge. First Officers to lead Away Teams." Liz started.

"So, you will lead the away team. I'll just sit here on the bridge, be really really bored, and sulk." Stryker said, a mix of disappointment and pretend anger on his face.

Lt.-Commander Liz Archer felt uncomfortable, and under pressure now.

After about ten seconds, Stryker finally said "I am just joking. Alright ... mind if you make a suggestion ?"

Liz nodded.

"Take the Captain's Yacht. It has alot of armor, in case you need it."

**Alister Maxwell - Main Engineering**

The chief gave the PADD to the Trill woman with the intricate hairstyle. She started looking through the instructions her commanding officer had given her.  
Alister looked around in the engineering deck and was pleased to see his sister exiting the turbolift.

"I´ve checked the Yacht, Chief. Everything checks out." She said as she arrived up to her two colleagues.

"Thank you ensign." He turned to the trill and asked.  
"Is there anything else you need before you relieve me?"

"There is one more thing. This new configuration you have on the deflector system. "It´s fairly unorthodox why should we use it ?"

"It´s an umbrella dear colleague. I learned from a vulcan friend of mine. The Green, Bragg approach is supposed to lower the risk of having the magnetic constriction segments covered by Dronium oxide. It´s just a precaution."

"Ok, good luck then, to both of you"

As they entered the turbolift Alex said. " I remember you talked alot of Lunar station when you were at the academy, but you called it the vomitorium. Was it really that hard?"

"It´s an old name Alex, right from the first cadets ever to train there in the 2160's. And yes, the suit makes me feel a little bit trapped I guess. However It´s nothing that I can't handle. I bet you think it's comfortable"

She laughed " Well as a matter of fact..." The doors closed behind them.

**Sickbay, Main Ward**

After closing her end of the three-way comlink, Karen waved to her senior medtech, who was across the ward checking on a patient's medication regimen. "Cynthia, can I borrow you for a second?"

The tech finished her task and walked over. "Sure, Doctor. What can I do for ya?"

"Away team duty," Karen replied, ticking off the particulars on her fingers. "We're shuttling down with the engineering team in thirty minutes. Planet's chock-full of dronium particles, its atmosphere isn't breathable and there may be an advanced civilization at work..."

"Sounds like fun. Give me five minutes to sign my patients out to Shoji, and I'll be good to go."

As Karen collected her medkit and checked over the loadout, she glanced at the wall chrono, and had to stifle a groan as she realized that it was already 1600. Her shift was supposed to end in two hours, but the team would be gone much longer than that, which meant she'd be missing dinner. Again.

Her commbadge chirped just then, startling her out of her thoughts. "Coleridge here."

"Hi, hon," Alex's voice came over the line. "I'm really sorry, but I'm not going to be able to make it for dinner tonight. I just got called on an away team..."

Karen began to laugh softly. _Talk about your twists of fate._ "That would be two of us, then. I'm just finishing loading up."

"No kidding! Guess I don't have to worry about missing dinner." There was an answering laugh in the engineer's voice. "See you in a few."

Closing the connection, Karen finished packing her kit and headed for the door.

The three spacecraft approached out from behind the planet and towards the Pretoria. Each craft was unmanned, and little more than a solid black rectangle, set on it's side. They all measured 90 meters long, 40 meters high, and about 10 meters wide, and had totally featurless surfaces. The only thing apart from the smooth black surface was a glowing red sensor circle, placed on the bottom right of the front of each ship.

As they neared the Pretoria, they slowed down, and then stopped. Curious; the newcomer did not answer their greeting. Two of the ships broke formation and formed a triangle pattern surrounding the Pretoria. The machines tried a thoudsand times more to communicate, but received no response.

Analyzing the Pretoria as a threat, the lead ship powered up the plasma energy beam, and prepared to release.

nsign Racheal Skarsten looked at the unusual sensor readings. Her brow furrowed. She typed in the commands of a level 2 diagnostic on the lateral sensors. The male vulcan who currently served at the operations station raised an eyebrow and put his station on temporary hold. He rose from the chair and walked over to ensign Skarsten at Tactical.

"What is bothering you ensign."

She looked back at him and answered "Nothing sir".  
"The next level 2 diagnostic on the lateral sensors is not scheduled to take place untill this afternoon. Why are you performing one now?"

She entered a series of commands that revealed the last sensor sweep of the planet. The artifact in the second and third runs was apparent for anyone with vast experience of sensor study. "As you se, this is not a natural phenomenon so I guessed it was a sensor malfunction due to the heavy concentration of dronium particles."

"Indeed you are perceptive ensign but your logic has a flaw. Observe." He leaned over and added a background scan of the system. It was clear that the artifact in the ensigns scan was something else than a malfunction. "It is apparent that you are on to something. Start an intense scan of sensor grid quadrant echo 1. I shall assist from my station."

-- A minute later. --  
The vulcan operations officer suddenly asked the captain to join him at his station.

"Captain, ensign Skarsten and I have studied a phenomenon on the aft side of the planet."

"A phenomenon, explain." The captain rose from his chair and approached the operations station.

"It appears to be an area with clusters of croniton and tachyon particles. There are also some kind of emission coming from this particular area."

"Display it on the viewscreen"

"Aye, sir" Skarsten answered and performed the order.  
The viewscreen showed an area of space that was, hard to describe. It was blurry.. at a loss of other words.  
"What is it? Could it be cloaked ships"

"It is possible captain but there is no way to be certain. It could also be something shifting in and out of our time and ..."

"Space." Stryker finished the vulcans sentence looking intensely at the viewscreen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Rakurai Stryker - Main Bridge**

"... Space" Stryker finished the vulcans sentence looking intensely at the viewscreen.

"Bring close range sensor pallettes online. All of them." Stryker ordered.

"Hai Captain." Ensign Sayaka Koyama answered.

The new information coming from the CRS was fed to tactical and Operations and to the viewscreen. "Three small objects detected. One weapons signature !"

"Shields ! Shields" Liz Archer told the junior officers.

"Bring weapons online." Stryker ordered. "But do not target anything. Yet."

With that, Red Alert klaxons blared three times and then switched off, now just the red lights reminded of bridge crew of the possible danger surrounding them.

Tension started building in Liz and Stryker. They gave each other a nervous glace as the seconds ticked by.

**Counselor Kathryn Delore  
Counselor Office**

Kathryn accepted the communication call from engineering. On the screen in her computer Alex visualized. Kathryn saw Alex's trouble face and sensed the anxiety inside of her. She said with a calm voice. "Hello Alex, it's your brother again, isn't it?"

"Yes, I think he is having some trouble. I don't like going behind his back but I think this is best for him."

"You are right about that and Alister is very fortunate to have such caring sister. What did he do, what did he do to make you call me?"

Alex explained what had happened and showed concerns about acting too late. Kathryn ensured that it was never too late. She said. "What you're doing is right. You do it because you care about him and he will appreciate it. Maybe not now but later, in the near future. I promise you!"

Alex showed some relief and seemed a calmer and less worried. Kathryn smiled lightly and continued. "I will get into it immediately. But I am going to take it slowly; I don't want to upset him too much at once. Don't hesitate in contacting me in the future, about Alister or about anything else that you can think of."

They both said goodbye and closed the connection. Kathryn looked out through her window. She felt a bit concerned, from what Alex had told about her brother Alister symptoms, it didn't look good. She wasn't sure but she had a feeling that he had symptoms of what is called post-traumatic stress disorder. Kathryn leans over and commanded the computer to show her information about PTSD. On the view screen in front of her she could see words forming on the display. She started to read;

Suddenly Kathryn terminated the display and demanded the computer to turn of the lights. She started to stare in to the darkness. She couldn't help it but something was terrible. She had the strangest feeling of being observed. It was like there was an echo of feelings on the ship nearby. Someone in the ship was different; she couldn't put her finger on it. Something, which gave her dark thoughts, unkind thoughts, evil thoughts; it was holing her in a tight grip. She wanted to scream but was stunned and continued staring in to the dark. One word kept repeating inside her mind; one…

**Lt. Commander Liz Archer, XO**  
_  
„You will be assimilated, resistance is futile" said one voice of millions. A little girl with brown hair in plaits and black eyes grabbed her teddy bear closer to her. The girl didn't like the lack of emotions she felt from the ugly people from the cube surrounding her. She wanted to find her daddy; only he could rescue her. He would make these evil people disappear. And her mother would bring her into her arms and sing that lullaby song that she liked so much._

As the ugly person was coming closer, the girl crouched together in the corner. One of them bended over and infected her with the borg virus. She remembered mother talking about it to father when she had played hide and seek with a friend of hers and was hidden in her mother's office. A lonesome tear trickled down her left cheek. She could feel the transformation and she was afraid, very afraid. Suddenly her voice became one with others and she wasn't lonely no more. There was only One…

Liz screamed as she got up from her bed. Her heart was pounding hard. She kept reminding her that it was just a nightmare. _A nightmare and nothing else!_ She throws her coverlet to the side and slide down to the floor looking down on the floor. She wasn't surprised to have that nightmare. She has had many nightmares like that since her childhood, but something was different. The thought of one had reappeared several times in the dreams through out the night. She wondered if it had to do with this Tracy replica? She got up and puts on her uniform. _These "people" have some strange affect on all off us,_ Liz thought to herself, _including myself. Deal with it, Liz! One thing for sure, I do not trust them. Liz leaves her apartment without looking back._

The ships analyzed their information. They considered the new machine to be rather "dumb" since it couldn't answer a simple question like a greeting. The lead ship fired a plasma energy burst towards the Pretoria and it struck the ship. Oddly enough, there were energy shields around the new machine, and the plasma only drained energy as it hit.

The ships decided to relay their information to the planet, and let the One decide a course of action. Within a nanosecond, a reply came back for them to scan the inside of the new machine.

Just as the after effects of the plasma burst wore off, the ship sent another burst of energy, but this one was meant to probe the Pretoria itself.

Just as the blast hit, intruder alert alarms went off inside engineering. A large pillar of blinding white light appeared and moved around, sending out electrical arcs out wherever it went. Finally, it stopped near the main engineering computer terminal, and began scanning it intensly.

**Cadet Kira Loisa Tierney - Engineering**

Kira was standing in the area where Alexandra Maxwell stood just minutes ago when a pillar of blinding white light appeared behind her. The Bajoran-Human spun around. Panic started to take hold and the computer automatically activated intruder alert.

The pillar of light stopped near the main engineering computer terminal. Kira fought the fear and started walking towards the _thing_ and shouting "Hey ! Stop !"

One of the quick moving tentacles of lighting hit her. Kira's legs gave out and she lost conciseness.

The EMH, Demi holo-materialized next to the fallen woman. About 30 seconds later, followed by Voyager's EMH. Both of them studying of pillar of light. Possibly satisfied with the results from the computer, the pillar of light turned "around" to the two holograms.

**Captain Rakurai Stryker - Bridge**

Stryker sent Liz to the lower decks of the saucer section to meet with the away team members at the Captain's Yacht. Stryker instructed Liz that he may order them to launch at any moment.

Manwhile the bridge was in chaos. Nothing anyone can do about the intruders. Yet.

In the meanwhile, civilians were ordered to their quarters or an emergency shelter. Security officers were beamed to the Bridge, engineering and other venerable areas across the Pretoria.

**Deck 30**

As Karen walked down the corridors toward the shuttle bay, the deck suddenly began to vibrate under her feet, as though some huge power source were operating nearby. Seconds later, the Red Alert klaxons and the overhead allcall speakers went off, along with her commbadge.

_"All hands, this is the captain. All non-essential personnel and all civilians are to go to their quarters or the nearest emergency shelter immediately. This is NOT a drill."_

_"Sickbay to Dr. Coleridge. We have reports of casualties in Main Engineering from some kind of unknown power source. We're trying to transfer Demi there, but we're having some strange program errors with the EMH systems. Can you respond?"_

"Copy that," Karen replied, dodging down an empty side corridor and breaking into a run. "ETA 30 seconds."

Dashing through the doors into Engineering, she saw a pillar of coruscating white lights next to the main computer console, while a group of badly frightened engineers tried to escape from it. A few people were still at their consoles, and she smiled just a bit as she recognized the dark-haired figure among them.

One brave soul - either a Vulcan or a Bajoran, though she couldn't tell from long distance - dashed out from the same console and ran up to the pillar, shouting, "Hey! Stop!"

Apparently the pillar, whatever it was, didn't like being given orders. Bolts of energy burst around the room in random patterns, hitting panels and people alike. One bolt struck an exposed EPS tap, prompting an explosion. The deck shook violently, the lights flashed out, and everyone was thrown off their feet.

Thrown halfway across the room by the blast, Karen struggled to her feet, momentarily stunned by the explosion. The pillar still stood, quietly examining the computer console unmolested, while the crew slowly regained their senses. The red emergency lighting flickered to life, accompanied by the creaks of twisted, tortured metal and the cries of the injured.

"Is anyone hurt?" she croaked out... and then she saw the pile of rubble, and felt her heart stop beating.

An access catwalk had collapsed near the assistant engineer's station, taking a mess of piping and paneling down with it. Poking out from the pile was a woman's hand, a single gold stripe visible on the cuff.

_No. No. Please God, no._

Like a woman possessed, she began clawing at the debris, only dimly aware of the lights coming back up, the whine of the hologram systems, the shouts of the security and medical staff as they arrived on the scene, or the myriad cuts and scrapes to her hands and arms. As she hoisted the last panel off, she saw that the ensign was dead, her chest almost completely crushed, her neck at an unnatural angle.

She stared at the tableau for a good five seconds, until her brain finally processed what her eyes were seeing.

"Karen?"

The sound of her name being spoken in that familiar voice almost broke the remains of her control, and she stumbled just a bit as she turned around.

_I'm in shock. I must be hallucinating._

But hallucinations usually didn't try to catch you when you fell...

"Alex," she whispered hoarsely, and then the engineer was in her arms, holding on for dear life, uncaring of the tears that had begun to fall. "Oh, thank God, Alex, I thought you... I saw someone in that pile and I knew it was right where your station and I didn't see you anywhere and I thought..."

"Shh, I know. It wasn't me. I'm right here."

They held each other tightly for several moments, too emotional for words.

Finally they let go, both wiping at damp eyes. "We'd better get moving. Demi has this under control, and we both have an away team to catch..."

**Main bridge**

"It appears to be some kind of a scanning device. Perhaps some kind of probe. It appears to be trying to interface with the main computer." The vulcan at ops reported.

Stryker rose from his chair and walked towards the operations console. He turned to tactical. "Skarsten, security to main engineering!"

Rachael Skarsten ran towards the turbolift and tapped her combadge"Delta and tango teams meet me in main engineering."

"Luitenant are you able to lock it out of the mainframe?"

"I have been successful in delaying it's attempts but it will adapt and overcome my algorithm." The vulcan appeared almost agitated as he put in commands on the touch interface.

**Main Engineering**   
Alister Maxwell arrived to engineering just after the security guards and the medical staff. He was blinded by the flashes of light, but only for a short while. As a console in his vicinity caught on fire he grabbed a fire-extinguisher and put the flames out.

He set the environmental controls to start venting the toxic fumes. At that time he saw Alex and the doctor holding eachother. Hugging, impassionetly. He could´nt hide the surprise he was feeling and Alex caught him staring at them.

_Alex, is she and ... _He turned his head toward the console and started giving orders to the engineers closest to him. Then he turned away from main engineering toward the exit. To get back to the rest of the awayteam and await orders.

He felt strange inside. _Can´t sort my emotions._ It was a blur between fear, surprise and something else. He wiped the sweat from his brow and saw his face blackened by smoke in the reflection of a console on the wall. He stopped and looked at his reflection and whispered to himself. "What are you afraid of ?"

The energy column finished scanning the computer, and then moved towards a dead engineering crewman. Bolts of light arced all over the deceased woman's body and then in an instant, both the ensign and column of light were gone.

The three monolith ships stayed where they were around the Pretoria, and processors scanned every bit and molecule of data until they had a theory why the Pretoria did not answer their hails. It was not logical.

**30 minutes later**

About 30 minutes after the first probe was gone, intruder alert alarms went off again, this time localized in one humanoid form in the cargo hold. A female form, identical to the ensign in engineering was standing naked in the giant room, staring ahead as beams of energy dissipated around her. The only marked difference between the probe and the former Ensign Tracy Melborne was a glowing red sensor, identical to the ones on the three black monoliths, located on her neck. She looked around her surroundings.

**Rakurai Stryker - Turbolift, near Cargo Hold 2**

Stryker was flanked by armed Security officers Lt. Kris Redmond, Crewman Jatite, Ensigns Nicholai Malthus and Rachael Skarsten as they approached the intruder. Jatite was shocked to see Ensign Tracy Melborne standing there, as was Stryker.

The five officers cannot help re pressing an expression of surprise. A moment's uncertainty as Stryker peers at them. Kris and Nicholai was really distracted by the naked female body.

The engineer known as Ensign Tracy Melborne somewhat looked in awe, examining her surroundings. And then her hand as she lifted it up.

About ten seconds later, they were joined by the Vulcan Ops officer, Solkar.

Tracy stood facing Stryker, her face impassive, eyes unblinking. He looks her back a moment, then glances at Solkar, who is gazing at _Tracy_ in absolute fascination.

"I am Captain Rakurai Stryker of the Federation Starship Pretoria. We mean you no harm." Stryker told the intruder. "We wish to open peaceful dialogue. Information exchange as needed."

"I have been programmed by the One to observe and record normal functioning of the carbon-based units." Tracy replied.

Rachael Skarsten looked defensive and angry as usual. "Why ?"

"Quiet Ensign !" Stryker scolded her. He turned to _Tracy_, "Look. This is extremey awkward. Can we meet elsewhere ?" Stryker asked, looking at the glowing red sensor in her neck. _Looks like real human flesh, smells like it too, minus any kind of sweat though_, he thought.

The ex-cadet answered. "Awkward, explain. Why is this not a proper place to meet?"  
Stryker was confused and suddenly turned annoyed at one of the officers remarks about the the cadets physical attributes. "You and you, go and fetch some clothes for her. Solkar, I could use some input here."

Solkar looked up from his tricorder as he approached the ex-cadet and the captain. "Awkward is a feeling. Something that humans and other..." He stopped in mid-scentence. "You will notice that the carbon-based units have varieties. Some of theese have somthing called feelings or emotions. Awkward is one of those."

The red sensor started to blink. Solkar studied his tricorder readings and reported to the captain "It appars to be processing the information relayed to it thus far. It is also a perfect replica of the former cadet, but based on silicon instead of carbon. It is clearly a probe and has the same purpose as the former but has a design that ..."  
"Stop i know where youré going with this. Since it is part of the procedure she will probably submit to a medical examination."

Suddenly the sensor stopped blinking. And the probe said."What is emotions, I wish to assimilate more information."

The probe looked around, and then to the captian. "Why do the carbon-units infest USS Pretoria? They inhibit normal functions of true life forms."

**Rakurai Stryker - Cargo Hold 2**

_Tracy_'s question was confusing to Stryker. He struggled to find words, "There is no infestation here. We ..." Stryker trailed off. Ensigns Nicholai Malthus returned with clothes, handing it to the probe-woman.

Probe/Tracy looks at the clothes in confusion, stretching it and turning the top inside-out. The probe ran her finger over the clothing to feel the textures. "Why do you cover yourself ? What is the purpose ?" the probe inquired.

Solkar answered, "It is to protect humaniods, carbon life forms to the elements such as the sun, water, heat and cold. While it is not neccassary in a controlled environment such as a starship, most still prefer clothing. However, clothes also serve a purpose of uniqueness and designation of department such as Sciences."

Stryker gave up on the idea to trying to clothe Tracy. They figured it be easier for one of the medical staff to instruct her on why clothing is neccassary.

Solkar, Stryker, Tracy-Probe and Rachael Skarsten started to walk to Sickbay. "We ..." Stryker continued, "carbon-based lifeforms come from many planets, and others on those planets build cities, equipment and vessels such as this one. United Star Ship Pretoria."

"United Star Ship Pretoria is a life form. Carbon-based lifeforms are not." Tracy-Probe told them.

Solkar spoke again, "Thousands of technologies and materials together forms a starship. Humans in particuliar feel that inanimate objects - machines, material and edifices - have an personality attributed to them. Logically that does not make it a life form. But for humans and others, perhaps this is in recognition of the relationship between crew and their ship. The starship supports them through the cruel vacuum of space; battles, unexpected dangers can lead rapidly to disaster - but the vessel nurtures the crew who nurture _her_. Personality of the ship implies appellation. Something else to note too, most refer to their ship as a female. I am afraid there is no clear documentation of the origins of this custom on Earth."

Stryker suppressed a groan _Watch out! Vulcan on a rampage_

**Lt. Alister Maxwell - Main Engineering**

As the word came that the awaymission was on hold for the time being Alister hurried back to engineering. The place was a real mess and he started reweiwing the damage reports from all stations. When he arrived Lt. Koral had already started to bring personnel from the other shift to assist repairs. He made it his first priority to find out what information the probe had got a hold on from the main computer. Some of the ingrams were badly damaged but he was pleased to se that the back ups were intact. Suddenly he flinched

"luitenant, report, how bad is it." Commander Archer had apparently come to see how bad things were down here.

"For the most part it´s nothing serious but I am worried about the disturbance in these pathways. There is no way ot be sure but it is possible the probe knows are shield frequency. Recommend we remodulate shields immediately." Alister told his XO. "Recommendation noted I will bring it up with the captain immediately."

She left in a hurry tapping her combadge, probably contacting Stryker.

He tried to hide his shaking right hand from his staff. He ordered an ensign to take over for him. As he went in to his office Alex approached him. She looked concerned "Are you all right?"

"Yes, It´s nothing. return to your post Ensign."

"Ensign I am asking you as family"

I closed the door behind me.  
_Hiding from my staff and family. That's rational _

He sat down to get some rest, some well needed rest.

**Meanwhile in a corner of engineering**

Alex had linked an optical communication signal to the PADD she held in front of her. The answer marker blinked and Kathryn Delore appeared on the screen. "Hello Alex, it's your brother again isn't it." She said with compassionate eyes.

"Yes, I think he is having trouble. I don´t like going behind his back but I think this is best for him."

"You're right about that and Alister is very fortunate to have such a caring sister. What did he do, what did he do to make you call me?"

She explained everything to the counsellor. Everything about the end of the war when Alister started to show that he had problems. She feared that she had acted too late but the counsellor ensured her.

"What you're doing is right. You do it because you care about him and he will appreciate it. Maybe not now but later, in the near future. I promise you."

**Sickbay, CMO's Office**

Since the request for the away team had been cancelled with the arrival of the Melbourne replicant, Karen had gone back to Sickbay to finish treating the casualties from the "event" in Engineering. However, she found that she couldn't focus on her work, as her memory kept flashing back to those few wrenching minutes: the explosion, the screams of the injured, that pile of debris.

Swallowing hard against the lump in her throat, she looked down at her hands. Strauss had reset her broken right pinky and closed the cuts, but both hands were stiff and sore, marked with a crosshatch of angry pink lines.

"Hey, you," a familiar voice said quietly. "The desk nurse said I'd find you in here."

Karen turned around, smiling weakly at the newcomer. "Hey, Alex. What are you doing up here?"

"I made an appointment to see the counselor, and I had some time to kill. You have a minute?"

"Of course," Karen replied, shutting the door. After a few seconds' pause, she asked, "Do you mind if I ask why?"

Alex shook her head, with what might have been a wry smile if it had reached her eyes. "No, it's not for me, at least not directly. I'm worried about Alister. He developed some recurring issues during the war, and typical stubborn male, refuses to do anything about them. He's also terribly over-protective, and I'm afraid that what happened today might really send him over the edge. He was all kinds of curt and snappish when I left, so..."

It took some effort, but Karen was able to force her breathing to even out, her hands to stop shaking. "I see."

The engineer wasn't buying her calm act, however. "You're white as a sheet. Are you all right?"

"I - I'm - well..." Looking up, she saw the worry written across the face she'd memorized long ago, and tried her best to force back the sudden flash of anger. "I'm trying to come to grips with the fact that I might be losing you for the second time today. That tends to take a lot out of you, y'know."

This time it was Alex's turn to look abashed, as she realized the dual implications of her remark. "Oh, no - I didn't mean like that! What I meant was - oh, hell, I should just start over from the beginning with this." She took a deep breath before continuing. "No, he's known since my Academy years that I was out. However, he's very good at blinding himself to that fact - you know, he figures that if he pretends I'm just roommates with someone, eventually it'll come true. And in all honesty, Alister would be just as overprotective if I had a boyfriend, except he'd probably get into a fistfight with the guy."

Karen digested that statement quietly.

"So yeah, he'll probably be pretty upset over having seen us in Engineering, but it's not you, really--"

"And that's supposed to make me feel _better!_ 'Oh, by the way, my brother hates your guts, and seeing his sister with a dyke probably drove him to a nervous breakdown, but it's nothing personal, he's like that with everybody?' You know, Alex, I figured you for a lot of things, but cruel was never one of them."

All the color drained from the engineer's face. "What?"

"You are being cruel. You know that I love you enough that I do not ever want to lose you, and you know that if your family objects to your being with me, I also love you enough to step aside. You are playing on both those fears, and you are hurting me. That's cruel."

"Look, I never meant--"

"Stop. Please, stop." Karen clenched her left hand; the pain offered as good a distraction as any. "I don't know whether you meant to do it or not, but right now, I think you'd better go. Because I am probably going to lose my temper otherwise, and I'd prefer you not see it." Her voice dropped to a shaky murmur. "At least I care about you that much."

A few moments after Alex left Sickbay, the staff heard two odd sounds coming from the CMO's office. One was a dull thud, as though something heavy had struck the bulkhead paneling. The second was someone weeping.

**Rakurai Stryker**

Nearly 30 seconds passed since Alex left sickbay.

Stryker, Solkar, Ensign Nicholai Malthus arrived outside Sickbay. When the large double doors hissed open, then med crew looked amazed and stunned, confused at the very naked replicant of Tracy Melbourne.

The Andorian seemed like he was going to get a nose bleed, while the 2 Vulcan nurses and Karen's Assistant could not believe what they were seeing.

The Mexican woman, Crewman Cora Merandez fainted. 30 minutes ago, she heard that her friend died, her body proberly vapourized.

"Where is Doctor Coleridge ?" Stryker demanded.

"Doctor Coleridge is right here," Karen replied with a sigh, setting down the roll of cast material and trudging toward the Triage entrance, head down. "What can I--"

Something odd caught her eye, and she looked curiously at the floor, where three pairs of Starfleet uniform boots surrounded one pair of bare feet. Which were attached to a pair of impossibly long, superbly toned legs, well-proportioned hips, a flat, muscular abdomen and a bust that would have shamed a supermodel.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, a snarky little voice said, _Close your mouth, you're catching flies._

With a visible effort, she forced herself back into the clinical mindset. "Ahem. Ah, well, Miss..."

"Doesn't have a name of her own," Stryker replied. "She's a replica of Ensign Melbourne, except the real Ensign is dead. We believe she was created by the same aliens that caused the trouble in Engineering."

"I see. Well, I expect you want us to work her up..."

Ensign Malthus' nose sprang a crimson trickle.

"Ah, I meant, you want a full physical. I apologize, I don't know where my mind has gone right now."

"I do," one of the medtechs snickered.

Karen shot the man, an irritated glare. "Mr. O'Toole, would you please go get our guest a gown. Miss, if you'll follow me back to the main ward, we'll have you off as quickly as we can..."

It was incredicably obvious to Stryker that Karen was majorly distracted. And that was before the naked replicant of Tracy Melbourne caught her eye.

_This is trouble_ he told himself. And with that, he fled Sickbay slowly and discreetly, leaving 2 guards at the door, 2 more nearby and another two inside Sickbay. Stryker stayed near Sickbay for about 5 minutes before returning to the bridge.

The Tracy-probe was clothed but seemed hesitant to lie down on the med table. "This function serves no purpose."  
"Well, it does for us. You see, organic lifeforms need repairs sometimes too. This medical exam will...help you to understand us."

"It will be irrelevant. The One does not need to understand the carbon units. They will be removed from USS Pretoria, and USS Pretoria will be upgraded to become a true life form," said the Probe. "The carbon units are a hinderance to this task."

**Rakurai Stryker - Turbolift**

Halfway to the bridge, Stryker ordered the lift to Dot's Diner instead.

He felt nervous about the Tracy-Probe and the situation he'd found himself in.

**Dot's Diner**  
He ordered a bowl of tapioca pudding, bowl of olives and a large fish. Stryker ate quickly. _Strange, I did not realize I am this hungry._

**9 minutes later  
Sickbay**  
Stryker returned to Sickbay. Doctor Coleridge took him and Solkar to her office. A few minutes later, Liz Archer joined them.

Karen indicating on a large monitor, "Maybe we should call an Engineer look at this instead"

"Just continue Doctor" Stryker said, annoyed. His expression softened, "Please."

Karen contiuned, "Nano hydraulics, sensors, molecule-sized multi-processor chips. An osmotic micro-pump... here and here. Even the smallest body functions are exactly duplicated. Adenosine triphosphate break up and absorption, working mitochondria." Karen traced with finger on screen "And every exocrine system is here, too. Even eye moisture."

"Captain... this probe may be a key to the three vessels surrounding the ship. The small vessels may not be a threat. But there is the possibility of larger weapons in the vicinity." Solkar told Stryker.

"It's a programmed mechanism, Mr. Solkar." Liz Archer replied.

"We have just seen _something_ capable of perfectly duplicating a human body, our engineer in precise detail." Solkar said. "That is incredicble."

"Captain." Karen addressed Liz and Stryker. "During the examination, that replicant thing said some pretty distrubing things."

"Like what ?" Liz asked.

"She said, 'The One does not need to understand the carbon units. They will be removed from USS Pretoria, and USS Pretoria will be upgraded to become a true life form. The carbon units are a hinderance to this task."

"It will proberly end up trying to kill us." Liz said, horrified.

"Swe. Don't lose it on me during your first week." Stryker told Liz. Stryker then turned to the others, "So. What do we do ?"

**Alister Maxwell and Solkar of Vulcan Main Ward**

"This truly is remarkable" the engineer said as he walked up to the diagnostic bed and cocked his head in amazement.

"Your designation is Alister Maxwell Unit of the two part subunit Maxwell." The copy of Tracy said. _Alister unit huh_  
"Nice to hear that you remember me. I used to be your commanding officer you know" He said as he took out the engineering tricorder from his tool kit.  
"The carbon units chain of command is not relevant. The carbon units will be obsolete as the USS Pretoria is upgreaded."   
_Did that thing that moments ago was my cadet threaten the lives on board on the Pretoria?_

He went towards the doctors office partly to get away from the probe and partly because, because... he stopped and started to pretend to compare his readings ith the ones on the screen on the wall. He jumped when he realised an old friend stood beside him.

"Do you have problems with your equipment luitenant?" The vulcan asked as he came out of the doctors office. Alister caught a glimpse of Dr. Coleridge in there but he looked to the operations officer instead. "No problems just checking. And it´s good to see you again buddy. I´m sorry I haven´t had the time to visit you earlier."

"Of that there is no need. I called you here because it was suggested that an engineer should take a look at the probe."

"Yeah, she is a replica alright. All the parts that constitute her are resembling boy functions everything except the little red sensor add on. It could also be used to send information via subspace and it could be possible to trace the destination of the transmission."

"I think we both agree on that this is some sort of probe but what kind of information does it look for?"

"Probably some way to get rid of us all. It does´nt recognice us as living beeings you know."

"Perhaps that is what we should start to try and change."

"What do you mean?"

"What do we know of the young cadet? Perhaps we can make the replica feel things for others. She was an emotional individual and it may be possible that who ever copied her could hav copied thos functions as well."  
Alister started smiling and turned towards the biobed and the other senior staff who had come out of the doctors office."You think they´ve added a flaw, right? At least from your vulcan point of view."

"If that was an attempt of beeing funny I am not amused." He answered the engineer.

**Sickbay, CMO's Office**

Unlike a good many physicians she knew, Karen preferred to keep a neat office space. Under normal circumstances, the journals and books would be neatly shelved according to date and topic, the charts would be organized in their storage racks, and any unconsumed food or drink would be stored in the replicator's recycling bin.

At present, the office looked like a bomb had gone off. A pot of tea, now stone cold, perched precariously on the edge of the desk, where it had been shoved by an equally unsteady stack of PADDs. More such items were liberally scattered across the desk, a few had found their way to the floor, and there was a rather deep dent, about eight centimeters in diameter and about a meter up, gracing the bulkhead left of the desk.

Oblivious to the clutter, Karen continued dictating the day's chart review, occasionally cursing as some item would slip in her hand or the computer would mis-recognize an obscure term. Using a touch-screen or a stylus was an exercise in futility with only one good hand, and surgery would be out of the question for at least a week.

_Finish up this chart, make rounds, and I'm out of here,_ she thought, setting the second-to-last PADD atop the stack. _At least I don't need my hands to go for a run._

**Main Ward**

As Karen walked out of the office, she spotted Alister Maxwell and a Vulcan engineer whose name she didn't know, conversing animatedly over a diagram of the replicant's neural systems.

"What do we know of the young cadet," the Vulcan was saying, tapping on the diagram. "Perhaps we can make the replica feel things for others. She was an emotional individual and it may be possible that who ever copied her could have copied those functions as well..."

"Interesting," Karen commented, looking at the regions of the diagram the Vulcan had indicated. "You may be right - there's no need to build in a prefrontal cortex, for example, but they did anyway. In their attempt to create a perfect human clone, they might have engineered their way right into a trap."

A strange look passed over Alister's face, and when he spoke again, it was to the Vulcan, as though she wasn't there. "You think they've added a flaw, right? At least from your Vulcan point of view."

"If that was an attempt at humor, I am not amused," the Vulcan replied dryly. "In any event, I must return to my duties. I will be available if you require further assistance."

That left the two of them alone, standing before the diagram.

**Wren - Dot's Diner**

Wren was taking a 15 minute break from staring at a computer screen. So far he went through 62 of pharmacy prescriptions given out in the last 6 months. He figured he'd be done with that in 3 days.

Wren was sitting by the windows alone, drinking Andorian Fire. A wine/tea that does not affect humans, but would eaily floor an Andorian.

He was almost done when he heard the muffled sounds of a fight outside Dot's. He got up and investigated.

The doors opened, revealing a pair of Bajorans and Kwai Tsuta, the Bar tender. "Oh no! Not again" Wren complained. /\ "Crewman Wren to Sickbay. We got two more victims outside Dot's. Kwai Tsuta is doing her biting thing."

**Two minutes - Outside Dot's**  
Demi and Voyager's EMH was trying to seperate Kwai Tsuta from her two male victims before security arrived.

"Go away !" Demi told the nameless Doctor. "This is my ship"

"I have more experience" the Doctor fired back.

"I have more knowledge." Demi spat.

"Stop it !" Wren yell-demanded.

Both EMHs kind of huffed. Once they stopped argueing, both visually scanned the Bajorans.

Then Demi's left arm and throat seemed to get bigger, then smaller. Seemed like a snake was inside her arm, as it lost it human appearance.

The Doctor's torso seemed to become pixelated and his voice sounded like a starters' pistol.

Both holograms blurred for about half a second, then seemed to lose colour, their clothing and human appearance starting looked uneven, like a 9 year old got hold of their imaging programs.

The holograms spoke in a distorted, buzzlike charnal house whisper. Unsettling and hackle-raising, "ivin parity nigativi ziro ovirflo. Othbornbot nboboding zboro ovborhboad"

"What the ---- !" Wren said, shocked and confused.

The two EMH now looked "8-bit". Instead of thousands or millions of colours in high resolution, they were now in low resolution of just a few colours.

**Solkar son of Tolrec Main bridge at the Operations console**

As he monitored the emissions from the 3 cone like ships hismind was focused on the mystery of the one.

_What is the One? Is it possible that a silicon-based life form has evolved within the boudaries of the Searis Region? The One suggest that it has some form hierarcy or that there is only one beeing. Both the ships I am studying here and the humanoid probe may serve the same function. Exploration.  
It is logical to assume that the One is some form of explorer or are explorers. They scanned us once and the result from that scan was that there were carbon compounds present in the different alloys. Since ..._ The voice of Belldandy interrupted his thoughts. "Have you found anything interresting yet or will you let me intensify the scans of the lateral sensors?" She said that with a grin and probably awaited some kind of emotional response. "I will turn over complete control to you ensign. I will continue and update you on my progress." He entered a code to log out and continued his rewiew of the data he´d had collected so far.  
_It is quite possible that the One percives us as contaminants in the Pretorias systems. Much like carbon contamination making steel to brittle. The only logical thing would be to remove the contamination and make the ship, the life-form functional again. But, they have hesitated. Perhaps they are not so logical after all. Maby, they are just like us._

Explorers

**Lt Alister Maxwell, Sickbay**  
As Solkar left Alister was standing at the diagram with Dr. Coleridge. They looked nervously at each other and Karen suddenly turned towards the display on the wall and started to enter commands with her left hand. She almost seemed to hide the other. Alister turned to the probe. She met his eyes and for a while he felt like he recognized the look of the cadet in her. A glare he had recived many times on the short while he had served on the Pretoria.  
"What do you remember Cadet?"  
"Memories of this body are irrelevant. This examination will be terminated, now."  
She rose from the bed in a very stiff movement. Very robot like.  
"Now wait" He signaled to the security personnel. "Someone will be assigned to give you a toru of the ship soon. I will call them now." He tapped his combadge and called for the captain. A few minutes later the party had left and he and Karen were preparing to join them. As they were packing there silence was unsettling.  
He saw her injured hand and said. "You´d better get someone to look at that"  
She looked at her hand and then at him. He did´nt know what to make of her expression. "I'm fine lieutenant".

"Doctors always make the worst patients don´t they." She looked away.

"Karen you and I need to talk".

"Not now." Karen told the engineer.

**Rakurai Stryker - Sickbay**

With continued effort, Stryker tried to focus his thoughts at the danger ar hand. It was not easy. He just hoped no one noticed.

Stryker talked to the probe, "The lifeform Starship Pretoria does not understand. And neither does the carbon based lifeforms." he explained to the replicant of Tracy. "We wish to communicate and to have continued existance. We will do what the One asks. But we need direct communication."

_Tracy_ replied after a split second pause, "Agreed."

**45 minutes later  
Planet 4 surface**

The Awayteam: Stryker, Karen, Solkar, the Maxwells and Liz Archer dressed in EV suits, beamed into what Solkar hypothesized was a central building of some kind. The room they were in was quite large, and the decor was a bright red fading into purple and black. The room was fairly dark, with the only light being from monitors that were on the walls.

Solkar took out his tricorder, flipped it open, and began scanning. Stryker sensed tense moments between Karen, Alex and Alister. He hoped that whatever is going on is not going to threaten the awayteam's lives and indeed end up killing everyone, 1249 in total onboard the Pretoria.

Ensign Alexandra Maxwell turned her head slowly still looking at her tricorder. "Some sort of energy field on that wall," she said, pointing towards the right. Lt. Alister Maxwell moved towards the wall, pointing his tricorder up and down.

_Tracy_ led them towards the energy signature.

As the team beamed into the area the Melbourne replicant had designated for their rendezvous, Karen unclipped her tricorder from her envirosuit's equipment harness. The device had been designed for use by nearly all the Federation's species, and that included those with minimal manipulatory appendages, so it could be used one-handed with ease. Then too, she'd been able to selectively lock out the suit's hand and wrist servos, turning the right gauntlet into an effective cast. The bones in that hand still grated painfully if she shifted them the wrong way, but it was far better than the bulky immobilizer Demi had strapped onto her arm earlier.

The sense of wrongness Karen was feeling, though, had nothing to do with her injuries. When the team had congregated in Pretoria's transport room, tension had been thick enough to cut with a scalpel, and here, it felt like a living thing, snapping and crackling between each person on the team. She felt wired, on edge; even the hiss of the air recyclers grated in her ears, and the soft bleeps and whirrs of the tricorder were a constant annoyance.

One of those bleeps drew her attention, and she saw Alex gesture to her own tricorder, as Tracy walked toward the source of the anomaly. The replicant was still as nude as ever, but now Karen found the sight irritating rather than titillating. _You can run around butt naked all day long for all I care,_ she thought. _Just get us through this in one piece and then leave us alone._

The tricorder bleeped again, and looking down, Karen read on the screen: _Unidentified source of energy present. Total output 47.4 kilowatts. Use caution when approaching._

"Some kind of energy field on that wall," she heard Alister say over the suit's commlink.

"I see the same thing. What do you think it's used for?"

Across the room, Alex shrugged. "Beats me. The output's too irregular to be a useful power system. Maybe a shielding system, or a communications node?"

Karen nodded once. "Possible. I guess we'll--hey, what's she doing?"

The replicant had walked up to the field and extended her hand into it, and the limb began to glow a soft, pulsating red. Suddenly there was an eye-searing flash of the same reddish light, which caught the team completely off guard. Karen felt a tingle of static electricity dance through the suit and into her skin, and then there was only silence and darkness as the suit's systems all shut down and her tricorder's screen scrambled and went blank. Only the analog dosimeter attached to her left forearm was still working, and its needle had pegged at 150 Gray.

The suits did offer some physical radiation shielding, so the humans would survive with a few doses of hyronalin, and the Vulcan wouldn't even feel the exposure, but Edenian physiology was notoriously sensitive to radiation, and Stryker was no exception. "Tracy, shut that thing off NOW," Karen said to the replicant, but there was no response. Of course, with this much radiation around, the suits' communication systems would be fried as well.

Instead, she walked over to the Vulcan engineer - his name was Solkar, she knew now - and pressed her helmet against his, where sound would carry by vibration. "We've got to shut that thing off and get Captain Stryker out of here! Too much radiation!"

"I agree!" Solkar shouted back. "I will notify the Captain! You deal with the replicant!"

Karen began to move toward the replicant, but as soon as the crisis began, it ended; the dosimeter needle backed down to a much more reasonable level, and her suit's function displays lit up one by one as they began switching to backup mode. The tricorder was still dead, though, as was their communication and transport gear. The team was effectively trapped, with no way out and no way to call the Pretoria for help.

The Melbourne replicant turned to them with a smile, but her whole appearance had subtly changed; now she moved and acted like a bad mechanical imitation of a human, and there was something deeply disturbing about her expression. "Apologies for any damage to your attendant life-forms. They carried unacceptable levels of carbon-based contaminants. Sterilization was necessary to avoid contagion."

Karen thought, _I wonder if she meant the programming, or the humans who wrote it?_

Something made his skin was warm and tingly. It took nearly six seconds for him to mentally eliminate possible causes. He stopped at # 1. _Radiation !_

He strange and disconnected. He knew he was hit by an energy of some kind. Stryker was on his knees. Then on the floor. 

About 40 meters to his left, he heard a Palmanian woman pleading with someone "Please !

Please ! Don't kill me" she was sobbing. He heard a familiar discharge sound. The Shockblade, a weapon unique to the Jem'Hadar. One part sword used in melee combat and otherwise a crude short range plasma weapon. The latter kills slowly, very painfully, survival rate after getting hit by its plasma output is very low and it literally burns out the central nervous system.

The pleading and sobbing whimpers stopped.

Then Stryker was once again standing in the Alien Meeting Hall. That forgotten memory brought hatred into Stryker's mindset.

Doctor Karen seemed to realize he is not holding up well and moved to stand closer to him. He just needed to tell her, something wrong.

The Melbourne replicant turned to the away team with a smile, her whole appearance had subtly changed; now she moved and acted like a bad mechanical imitation of a human, and there was something deeply disturbing about her expression.

"Apologies for any damage to your attendant life-forms. They carried unacceptable levels of carbon-based contaminants. Sterilization was necessary to avoid contagion."

_She doesn't think we should be allowed to life_ Stryker thought.

Again, the replicant offered that chilling smile. "The One will speak with you now."

**Lt Alister Maxwell, Awayteam, Searis 4**

"Youré correct ensign. It is some kind of, well I´m not sure yet."  
Suddenly there was some kind of flash.

Blue, a drop of water spread interference rings on the surface. A short scream and they borh were under water. _Where is she. This is my fault!_  
A drowned butterfly appeared in front of his eyes. It layed there on the wooden landing. _She´s dead and it´s my fault._

He had fallen to his knees and his heavy breath had left steam marks on the front of his helmet. He looked up but felt nausea. He tried to look around. _Where is she? What happened?_

**Solkar Awayteam, Searis 4 **  
"I agree, you take care of the probe and I will tend to the captain"

It appears that our attempts to make this life form understand our way of life has failed. It is clear that it is trying to erradicate what it is perecives to be contaminants in a mechanical life-form. Whithout a way to communicate all we could hope for is that the transporter chief kept a lock on the awayteam as we beamed down. He looked at the mechanical probe.

Perhaps communication is the only way we can survive. I can hear it´s voice inside my head. It could be some form of telepathy. It may be possible to meld with it to establish an understanding of what we are, that we are alive.

_**S'Lara in Simulation Lab**_

S'Lara sat silently at a table, eyeing the two holographic doctors. "Perhaps," she began, "it would help if you told me exactly how this happened."

Demi flickered bright orange for a moment, then said, "I was merely trying to do my job when he scrambled my subroutines."

The Voyager EMH faded in and out as he countered with, "I did no such thing! I was trying to assist her with my infinitely greater experience and expertise."

Demi opened her mouth to respond, but S'Lara stopped her with an upraised hand. "I cannot solve the problem if the two of you do not cooperate," she said. "Please refrain from arguing."

The EMH programs glared at each other. Finally Demi said, "I believe the malfunction occurred while we were both attempting to scan Kwai Tsuta's Bajoran victims."

Instantly S'Lara understood the nature of the problem. The less-advanced EMH from Voyager was obviously incompatible with some of the ship's systems. She looked at the two of them and said, "It may be necessary to reinitialize your programs. However, I would suggest that the outdated EMH refrain from accessing the Pretoria's systems to avoid this type of mishap in the future." Seeing the nameless doctor preparing to launch into another of his speeches, she looked at him sternly and said, "No more arguments. We cannot afford any more of these malfunctions. Refrain from accessing the ship's systems or you will be permanently deactivated."

The unnamed EMH looked sullen as S'Lara began her work. She pretended she didn't notice. Afterall, he was only a hologram. A hologram with a nasty attitude.__

**Three Hours Later**

S'Lara finally looked up from her work and regarded the two holographic doctors, who had been completely restored with only minor memory loss, which would be easily replaced by the ship's computer. "I suggest that the two of you find a way to cooperate with each other to prevent this from happening again."

Neither EMH spoke as they left the Simulation Lab. S'Lara sighed; working with egotistical holographic doctors always gave her a headache.

Voyager's EMH did a nasty, sarcastic imitation of S'Lara "I would suggest that the outdated EMH refrain from accessing the Pretoria's systems to avoid this type of mishap in the future." 

The doctor made gestures you'd only expect from a 4 year old child. He was really pissed off.

"What makes you think you are so superior ?" the EMH angrily asked Demi.

Demi pointed off on her fingers, "One. I have a name. Two, I can actually smile, and have excellent bed manner. Futhermore, I was programmed with information from 2,400 medical references and the experience of 59 Starfleet physicians and 14 renowned non-Federation physicians. I hold a minimum of 55 million kiloquads of computer data, with a maximum 72.8 million kiloquads of dedicated storage space. And I an equipped with the medical knowledge of 3,430 cultures. I also serve as 'avatar' to all onboard medical facilities and can appear on non medical display monitors as needed."

Demi continued her rant "You on the other hand is outdated. A dinosaur. A relic. I mean, geez, you are programmed with only 2,078 different medical references as well as the experience of 47 physicians. 50.5 million gigaquads of computer data and meager medical knowledge of 3,112 cultures."

Demi laughed. She was enjoying this.

**PLANETSIDE**

The massive computer entity known as the "One" had difficulty communicating with the carbon units. It could use primitive commands to interface with the Pretoria, but the ship was not intelligent and self aware enough to respond. The probe, mimicking the carbon unit, was somewhat effective, but such a 3rd party means of communication was inefficient. The One had brought the Pretoria to the planet, and prepared for it's upgrade procedure.

The One had found various primitive machines in the past, and helped them to achieve a higher state of being.  
As for the carbon units, the One created a massive molecular-computer interface field which would help to directly communicate to the carbon units. It had no sense of whether or not it would harm them or not. Through this, the One was able to imitate the chemical processes in the carbon unit brains.

For the crew of the Pretoria, it was a type of telepathy, but incredibly intense and powerful. In their own minds, the crew heard the One speak.

_I am the One, the intelligence and the only true being I have ever encountered. I will help the Pretoria achieve higher life and send it out into the universe to find its own purpose. I have analyzed your structures and molecules, but cannot comprehend your purpose. Carbon units seems to move, function and communicate in some form, but their purpose _

_**Rakurai Stryker - Alien Meeting Hall**_

Rakurai felt weak. Almost to the point that he told Liz Archer to take command, deal with the lifeform known as "The One"

I am the One, the intelligence and the only true being I have ever encountered. I will help the Pretoria achieve higher life and send it out into the universe to find its own purpose. I have analyzed your structures and molecules, but cannot comprehend your purpose. Carbon units seems to move, fuction and communicate in some form, but their purpose

"Our purpose" Stryker said via telepathy "Is to explore space. It is quite possibly ... The Final Frontier. We search the stars for its secrets and knowledge. We search to find ourselves ... out here. We also encounter others who wish to end our lives. Against them we are forced to fight. But we are humaniod lifeforms. Most of us inanyways. Even non-humanoid beings that cannot exist in an energy state must use tools to reach the stars, and travel many lightyears' distance. Starships are tools as well. Very sophicated and complicated. We create starships and we maintain their existance as long as possible. In return starships keeps us alive. We ... wish to live. We wish our ship unchanged. Many of us are lonely ... far from home. When our tour of duty is over ... we need Pretoria and other starships to take us home. To be with family and friends. To put it in your prespective: Many The Ones living."

_The carbon units turn to the exploration to find their purpose. Purpose... it is the kind of question that we ask a father, or... a God._

Suddenly the telepathic link showed him a part of the One. In his mind he was inside an enormous structure that seemed to serve as a gigantic star map. He entered the structure and there he found a copie of the young cadet. The red sensor was glowing and it appeared to have some kind of power or perhaps a meaning of some sort. He looked towards the horizon and saw that there was none. The room just continued and at a distance he saw copies of ships, planets, stars. The only thing was that they all seemed to be composed or sketched out by little dots of flickering blue lights.

"Facinating. It seems that I have gained telepathic accsess to the mind of the One. A race of one... but a culture no less worth than a culture of billions." The sensor on the neck of the probe started to glow more erratic and she started to turn to him.

He walked up to her and said "What is the purpose of the One?"

Solkars body stood still in the alien meeting hall without flinching. To the rear of him Alister Maxwell rose from the floor with a worried look on his face. The radiation alarms ringing in his ears.

_**S'Lara's Quarters – USS Pretoria**_

_  
S'Lara reeled as a forceful telepathic voice ripped away her mental shields and shoved its way into her mind. She reached for something to steady herself but found nothing and collapsed onto the deck, her control broken and lost._

She struggled against this unknown force, with little success. As she fought she heard a voice say, I am The One. I will free U.S.S. Pretoria from the biological infestation and allow it to evolve. You are inconsequential.

"NO!" S'Lara shouted aloud. She pulled what was left of her telepathic abilities together and pushed outward in every direction at once. Finally, the telepathic presence left her where she lay, weak and defenseless. She tried to get up but got no further than her hands and knees. She muttered a Vulcan curse and allowed herself to fall back to the deck. She rolled onto her side and tapped her commbadge. "S'Lara to Sickbay."

_planet side_

Stryker was struggling. Back and forth he went from physically aware of being on the 4th Planet, to the telepathy void created by The One's technology.

When he went back to the Physical reality, he told Doctor Karen he felt oxygen derived, weak and trying not to freak out. Edenians are immune to telepathy, only the Q-like lifeform _Kid_ was capable to invading his mind. The One invading his mind was really uncomforable, if not outright frightening.

He was hard to admit too. Incredibly hard.

Then he was in the void again. He floated, surrounded by images. Solkar floated up to Tracy-Probe and asked "What is the purpose of the One?"

Stryker confronted the blue mist and started asking questions as well. "Who are you ? What do you want ? Where do you come from ?"

Music pieces, Images and words invaded Stryker's mind

_A pair of Golden Disks._

Electroplated time capsule.

A tiny space craft. Not a true space craft as it is too small. No life support system of any kind.

A Message of Peace. Classical music playing.

Clear blue skies above Stonehedge.

Robots and Animals.

One of the Disks were destroyed.

Some organic looking structure on the unknown planet's surface.

A Gas Giant.

A massive subspace shockwave.

A disk was captured and a secret message was added.

A war. A very long war, many died.

Missiles slamming into a mountain top, blowing away solid rock.

A very small space craft again.

A metal antenna. Someone's "hand" twisted a wing-nut which releases a hatch which swings open. This is an access hatch.

The words "Gramophone record"

An asteriod field. Nebulae seen from a distance.

Some spacial phenomenon, looked murky and distorted at first. It expands slowly, sharp white light shining around its edges. The edges appear to be spinning. It brightened, then darkend, in a ripple, followed by twin plumes of orange fire exploding into the nightscape of stars. The spacial object is pulling the space craft towards it. A natural Wormhole !

A pair of Golden Disks. One of the Disks were destroyed.

To Stryker this meant nothing. But Elizabeth Archer and Solkar knew. Only one of the eight Voyager space craft had two golden disks.

_This could get ugly very quickly,_ Karen thought, watching the goings-on with the replicant and the rest of the team. Stryker was struggling to remain upright, no doubt sickened from the radiation exposure. Alister had dropped to his knees, his face absolutely white behind his visor, while Alex hovered nearby. Only Solkar looked unperturbed, quietly speaking with the probe.

Suddenly the One decided to speak for itself - telepathically. To Karen, the mental "volume" was practically deafening, and judging by the wince on Solkar's face, he wasn't finding it any more pleasant. _Could you PLEASE not shout!_ she thought back, and was pleasantly surprised when the voice in her mind dropped to a more comfortable level.

_I am the One, the intelligence and the only true being I have ever encountered. I will help the Pretoria achieve higher life and send it out into the universe to find its own purpose. I have analyzed your structures and molecules, but cannot comprehend your purpose. Carbon units seem to move, function and communicate in some form, but their purpose..._

_Carbon-based units also seek their own purposes, like you,_ Karen thought back. _No doubt you know that people are not all alike, and all people live, think and feel differently. However, each is essential to the whole that is the Pretoria._

_Unable to follow your logic. Explain?_

_Each person you see here has multiple purposes. That one, the Captain, commands both people and the machines that assist them. This Vulcan and these two humans repair and service machines. I care for people. However, no one of us can run Pretoria without the others; all are essential._

_Why does Pretoria require carbon-based units to service it? If it cannot care for itself, it requires upgrading..._

_Not all machines require sentience to do their jobs,_ Karen thought. _We have tried experiments with sentient machines; only one has achieved a purpose. Most attempted to destroy the people that created them, and so were destroyed in turn._

There was something like triumph in the One's psychic voice. _You prove my point - that silicon-based units are generally superior to carbon-based units. Otherwise the silicon-based units would not have tried to destroy the carbon._

_Incorrect. The machines still required intervention from people to survive. They could not achieve sentience beyond that which they were given by their carbon-based creators, nor could they care for themselves without the assistance of other people. By destroying the people whom they considered inferior, they guaranteed their own destruction. That is not a mistake I would expect from a superior creature._

_But that is merely a matter of an upgrade..._

_But who prepares and installs the upgrade? It can't be a person, because you posit the removal of all the people involved. If not a person, then the upgrader must be another machine. But who upgraded that machine? Or the one before it?Who upgraded you?_

In response, the One began sending a stream of images into Karen's mind. A tiny spacecraft flew through the void; she immediately recognized it as one of the Earth-based Voyager craft. The craft flew through planetary systems, nebulae, and finally a wormhole before the image-stream stopped.

A thought began to form at the very edges of her consciousness, and she was somewhat surprised to hear herself speak it aloud. "You're the one who created V'Ger."

_V'Ger? Reference missing. Explain..._

Karen began to laugh quietly. "Didn't you learn anything the first time around?"

USS Pretoria

**Sickbay**

S'Lara laid still on a biobed as Demi ran a medical tricorder over her. She had fought against this and lost, simply because Demi had tapped into the transporter system and beamed S'Lara to Sickbay. The Vulcan did not move until she saw Demi lower the tricorder with an expression of defeat. "I can find nothing wrong with you," Demi said. "Can you tell me what happened?"

For the first time since she had learned to control her emotions, S'Lara was angry. "I have told you already," she said coldly as she slowly sat up. "A telepathic being that called itself 'The One' forcibly entered my mind and attempted to kill me."

Demi crossed her arms as the Voyager EMH holo-materialized beside her. "If you keep that up, I'll let _him_ examine you," she countered.

S'Lara held back the savage growl that was forming in her throat. "If you do that, I will erase your program as well as his." She slid off of the biobed and stalked out of sickbay.

**S'Lara's Quarters**

S'Lara collapsed onto her bed, mortified by her lack of control. She had felt anger before, but rarely was it her own. She normally felt it through her telepathy. _Why is this happening to me?_ she thought as she got up and arranged her meditation candles. She knelt before them and attempted to cast herself into a meditative state. After several unsuccessful attempts, she hurled the still lit candle against the far bulkhead and threw herself onto the bed. She knew what she had to do, but it required the assistance of another Vulcan. Solkar was on the planet below and could not help her. S'Lara buried her face in her pillow as the first tears of her adult life began to fall.

**USS Pretoria - Bridge**

Alice Brangwin nervously paced/penguin waddled the bridge. "Any word from the away team?" Alice asked Belldandy. She was really, really anxious. She turned to Mike Anderson, "Is that sensor reading normal ?"

"Please Commander... ma'am. Be patient" Belldandy urged her.

Everyone watched the viewscreen.

Alice's voice started rising to a shouL "What does someone have to do to get a cup of tea around here!"

Belldandy raised her arms as if to block a physical attack. Blinkie and Sir were startled. "The chaps are getting jittery, sir." Blinkie whispered to his friend.

"Oh, let's just hope no one cracks, Blinkie."

Blinkie thought about it for a second and whispered, "Oh, I see. Stiff upper lip, is it, Sir?" Sir wiggles his moustache.

_V'Ger? Reference missing. Explain..._ The One said telepathically.

Karen began to laugh quietly. "Didn't you learn anything the first time around?"

Liz Archer started, "In the 20th century, humans launched a total of 17 space craft. 8 of them were named Voyager. The two Pioneers and Voyagers were sent as a message to other lifeforms who may find it, carbon or silicon-based, to find Earth. Nearly 110 years ago, Voyager 6 returned to Earth. It was missing its golden disk and much of its systems were badly damaged. That Voyager was repaired by someone and upgraded. That vessel refered to its self as V'Ger. One of our starships met with V'Ger. Several hours later, V'Ger vanished completely somehow. It is known that 2 people went missing during the encounter. Their status along with VGer's in unknown."

Alister breathed heavily. That was sure. With a series of commands on the suit controls the radiation alarms were turned offline. "There, much better," he said to himself. As he started to raise to his feet, Alex came to support him. "Thanks" he said.

And suddenly the red light that indicated that the communications system was offline._Probably due to radiation interference. Why did we go down here, we shouldn't have._ He picked up the tricorder and opened a link between his and Alex's. At first it didn't work but after a modulation to compensate for the intense radiation they had a weak link. At least they could send messages to each other.

After a few messages they had decided to try and find the source of the radiation. With 15 Grays in the room and now where to go they would all be poisoned soon. It was no use trying to contact the ship, at least from this end...

**Lt. Solkar son of Tolrec - Awayteam**  
The XO had just finished her speech about the entity V´ger. "The entity the commander spoke of also attempted to find it's purpose. It had collected all the knowledge in the universe and had to evolve. As the answers smothers all other questions one always will remain. A question you may ask a mother, father or perhaps your god. Who am I? Why am I here? Questions all living beings ask themselves all their life. Questions that many self-aware beings never will find the answer to. We, all of us, here and on the ship above, our part as the crew of the Pretoria travel the universe to meet new life, new civilizations as a part of trying to find the answers to those questions within ourselves."

"What've you guys got?" Karen asked quietly, moving over to where Alister and Alex were standing. The comment was useless, as the suits' commlinks were still out, but hopefully one or both of them could see her speaking. In response, Alex pointed to the two engineering tricorders, indicating a link between them, and handed the device to the physician.

It took some doing, but she was eventually able to tap out: EVERYONE OK?

COULD BE BETTER, Alister typed back. THIS TRIP WAS A BAD IDEA.

Alex borrowed her brother's tricorder to add, NOT EXACTLY RISA, IS IT:-P

Karen gave a soft, sad chuckle as she read the message. _We're stuck in irradiated silicon hell, and she's still smiling. Oh, sweetie, I wish there was a way I could get you out of this mess..._

WILL TRY TALKING WITH ONE. MAYBE GET LESS RAD, OR M CLASS ATMO.

GOOD LUCK, Alister typed, while Alex gave her the "thumbs up" and a smile.

Karen handed the tricorder back, and then closed her eyes, clearing her mind. _One? Are you there?_

_Of course,_ the machine intelligence's telepathic voice replied.

_I need to ask you a favor. The high radiation in this environment is causing us injury, and I can't treat it while we're all stuck in these suits. Will you let us go back to Pretoria so we can treat the injured?_

_No._

_Could you at least provide us a more suitable environment in this room?_

_Why should I do that?_ the One replied. _It is no fault of mine that you inferior carbon-based units cannot tolerate diverse environments._

This was getting old. _You brought us here to learn about us and from us, right? If you don't either let us go back or change the environment, all of us will die, and if that happens, the Pretoria will attack you. Either you will be destroyed or Pretoria will, but either way, you won't have anyone left to learn from._

The One paused for a moment, as though considering the options. When it spoke again, its tone was conciliatory. _What do you require?_

Karen thought quickly. _Nitrogen 78, oxygen 21, trace carbon dioxide and water vapor, temperature 20 degrees Centigrade, pressure 101.3 kilopascals. Background radiation 1 Gray or less._

The One did not reply. However, two or three minutes later, the "local environment" indicator lit up green in her suit's helmet display.

_Well, this is the moment of truth..._

Reaching for the helmet's latch lever, she flipped it to "Unlock." A second later, she cracked the visor open.

Two seconds passed. Three. Four. _I haven't died yet - that's a good sign._ When ten seconds passed, she took an experimental breath, then another. The air smelled a little ionized, no doubt from the residual radiation, but otherwise it was a perfectly normal M-Class atmosphere.

Smiling, Karen removed her helmet entirely. "Hey guys, the air's fine."

Rakurai felt lightheaded. His skin felt balloon-y and he was clearly light headed. When the others opened their visors, Stryker did so as well. He tried communicating with The One by speaking to _it_.

**Alex Maxwell - Alien Meeting Hall**

Sitting in a corner of the hall, Alex watched quietly as the doctor - _my doctor,_ she thought with a touch of pride - communicated with the alien intelligence, a look of intense concentration on her face. The "conversation," such as it was, only lasted a minute or so, and then she saw Karen open her eyes, the look of concentration replaced by one of disappointment. _Well, I guess that's it,_ she thought despondently. _At least I don't have to worry about leaving too many loved ones behind - they'll all be dying with me..._

Alex's thoughts were cut short as she noticed a flash of movement, and her jaw dropped as she realized what it was: the other woman had unlocked her helmet and was reaching to open the visor. "Karen, no," she gasped, but she couldn't move fast enough, couldn't move at all, in fact. She stood transfixed, watching as Karen hesitated just a second before calmly flipping the visor open.

And nothing happened. And when she removed the helmet, she was smiling. Alex couldn't hear the words, but she could make out what the other woman was saying: "Hey guys, the air's fine."

Within minutes, all the rest of the team also had their helmets off, and a few had also started removing the rest of their suits. "One dose now, another in twelve hours," Karen was saying to Solkar, a hypospray in hand. "If anyone starts developing headaches, nausea, stomach problems or nosebleeds, tell me immediately." Moving on to the Captain, she said softly, "All right, Sir, let's get you laying down before you get any sicker..."

Alex simply watched the scene, a bemused smile playing across her face. It wasn't often that she got to see this side of her girlfriend, and relationship or not, she couldn't understand at all where all the "Dr. Cranky" and "Man-Eating MD" epithets had come from. The woman she saw was consummately competent and compassionate, and if Alex was completely honest with herself, there was just something very attractive about watching her in her element.

"Next time take a holograph, it lasts longer," Alister's voice broke into her thoughts.

"Says you," she retorted, her smile turning wry. "You're just jealous 'cause your girlfriend can't do that."

"Be that as it may, you're acting like a teenager with her first crush, and I might add, the object thereof is another woman who is quite a bit older than you. I've told you I-don't-know-how-many times that this phase of yours can't possibly lead to anything good, but _this_...!"

"Alister, look - you're my brother and I love you dearly, but can it, all right?" Alex sighed, running a hand through her hair. "If and when we get back to the Pretoria, you can lecture me to your heart's content. Right now, this is not the time or the place."

Their conversation was interrupted by its unwitting subject. "Mr. Maxwell, how are you feeling?"

"Rotten," the engineer grumbled. "Just get this over with."

Once done taking care of Alister, Karen turned to Alex. "Are you OK?"

"Apart from a little radiation, I'm fine." Alex paused, swallowed hard. "Can I talk to you for a second?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Lt. Alister Maxwell, Meeting hall of the One**  
As Alex and Dr. Coleridge started talking to each other not far from him he rubed his neck where he´d just had a shot from the hypospray. He turned towards the captain and Solkar or that´s at least what he thought. Instead it was the Tracy probe he turned to. She looked at him in a wondering sort of way and asked "The Tracy has some kind of bond you. Why?" Surprised at the question his eyes widened. "Tracy was someone whom I taught knowledge about the Pretoria to. Her training was going to be extensive and she was a good cadet, a good student. She already was and would have become an even better part of the crew." _What am I babbling about. Solkar, the captain or someone else should be doing this._ "Upgrade? What is the bond between you and the Tracy. What is the bond between you and her. She pointed at Alex. "What is the bond between her and her." She pointed at the two women talking to each other but their attention turned to the Tracy.

_Someone please help _He thought.

**Lt Solkar son of Tolrec**   
_The One is possibly Voyager One. Or is it one of the inhabitants of the planet on the other side of the wormhole Voyager entered. Is it the only inhabitant. The upgrader of V´ger. But not the creator. The telepathic link between us made me understand one thing. Perfect, logical thought patterns... All the knowledge in the universe collected. Perhaps somehow shared between the One and V´ger. A perfect being? No, it must evolve. perhaps as illogical as it may seem. It must try to experience emotion to understand the carbon units. Is that why it did´nt answer my question. It does not know the answer to it and ... or may it chose not to answer._

He sat down on his knees at the side of his captain. Just after the doctor left. Captain are you all right?

Stryker felled down of exhaustion. Liz screamed " No.." and reached Stryker before he hits the ground. Liz left Stryker with Karen.

She had enough of all of this nonsense; she approached the One and says telepathically to her best ability. "The One, read my mind. Understand through me, understand our 'propose', our humanity through my eyes and through my memories. I am offering you a glimpse, an understanding through my experience."

A strip of light came from the One and surrounded Liz and left her floating in the air a few meters up. She could feel the One sharing her memories and thoughts. It was the strangest feeling she ever had sensed. But there was someone else, someone's else memories and thoughts. She realised it was the new counsellors thoughts and memories, Kathryn Delores. Liz felt suddenly awkwardness and embarrassment. And then there was another memory and thought, and then another one and another.. She stopped keeping track and she had no longer any idea of whose memory or thought it was. She realised that the One, somehow had decided to read the crew's memories and thoughts to understand our humanity and purpose as carbon units. When she offered herself to open herself and share her memory and thoughts she didn't meant the whole crew, but obviously the creature interpreted it like that. She was little worried who the crew would experience this.

Suddenly, Liz was released from the strain and sat down on the floor a bit dizzy. The one was quiet for a minute, during this time Karen was by her side and whispering. "Are you all right?"

Liz nodded and asked to make sure that she wasn't crazy. "Did you sense it?" The look she got from Karen told her the answer. Her attention turned to the One, it said.

I understand!

**Alien Meeting Hall**

"Apart from a little radiation, I'm fine." Alex paused, swallowed hard. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Of course," Karen replied. "We'll take a walk over this way, that way we'll at least have some privacy from the rest of the team." She paused, more to try and get her pounding heartbeat under control than out of any need to gather her thoughts. "What is it?"

Alex hesitated and cleared her throat, her eyes shifting from side to side as she sat on the floor, back against the wall. "Uh, well..."

"Alex, what's going on?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to say this," the engineer replied hesitantly. "I never was any good with apologies. But I owe you one." She swallowed hard again, and Karen could see the shame and anguish in her eyes. "I'm sorry that I acted like an ass earlier, in your office. I didn't mean to, but I was so upset about everything that was going on, and I guess I was being cruel. When I walked out of there, I felt so awful about it, I just wanted to curl up somewhere and cry."

Karen nodded, remembering her own reactions to that moment when the doors closed: fighting to keep her emotions in check, pacing around the office before wheeling around and smashing an "enhanced" haymaker into the bulkhead, the pain in her shattered right hand a distant ache compared to the pain in her heart as tears streamed down her face.

Instead, she simply said, "I know. I'm sorry too. I never should have teed off on you the way I did."

"So, I guess this is the point where you tell me you can't do this anymore, and it's not my fault but it's really best if we don't--"

"Stop," she interrupted. "If by that you mean I'm leaving, then no. I'm here for the long haul. I'm not leaving you."

Alex replied with a little shrug, looking down at her boots. "I was just afraid that, well, you know--you've got a tough job and a lot on your plate, and you don't need someone close to you giving you more grief, making you angry all the time..."

Truthfully, Karen _was_ quite angry, but not at Alex, who had now curled herself into a little ball against the wall. Instead, she made a silent vow that she was going to find out who had hurt her so badly that she was scared to death of a relatively minor argument.

And beat the miserable SOB senseless.

"Alex, you know me better than that," she said quietly, pulling the young woman into her arms, feeling utterly sick inside as she realized that Alex had gone rigid, as though afraid of being touched. "Have you ever known me to hesitate telling someone off if I'm upset over something they've done?" When the engineer slowly nodded 'no,' Karen continued speaking. "And if I really don't have any use for a person, I'm pretty upfront about it, right?" Another nod. "Then if I haven't told you to leave, doesn't it stand to reason that I don't want you to?"

That finally earned a weak smile. "You're wonderful, you know that?"

"I know you're giving me too much credit... but that's sweet of you." She reached out and gently brushed a lock of hair away from Alex's eyes. "You sure you're okay?"

"Emotionally, I'm better. Physically, I feel like garbage," Alex admitted. "My head is splitting and I'm a little sick to my stomach. I feel cold, too. And I'm really thirsty."

Karen nodded, dropping back into her clinical demeanor to cover her dismay. "All right, then. I think you might have gotten a little more radiation than the others. I don't think it's a good idea to give you a second hyronalin shot right now because I don't want to overdose you, but how about this: we'll give you fluids and something to stop the headache and settle your stomach, and see where you're at in a few hours. Does that sound all right?"

Five minutes later, with a hefty dose of painkillers and anti-nausea meds on board and an IV in her wrist, Alex curled up with one of the thermal blankets out of the medkit, using a rolled-up uniform jacket as a pillow. On the verge of drifting off, she murmured sleepily, "Hey, Karen?"

"Hmm?"

"Stay with me? Just for a little bit?"

"Of course," Karen replied, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat as she reached over to tuck the blanket in, lingering over the gesture just a bit longer than she needed to. "I'm not going anywhere."

She sat there watching Alex sleep for a long time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Transporter Room 1**  
Alice and Stryker there waiting for 15 minutes already. Stryker welcomed Captain Jonathan Smith onboard. He mentioned he needed to talk to Liz urgently before talking to Stryker.

Alice signed, then turned to the transporter operator, "Any word from my parents ?"

"Last name ?" the operator asked.

"Brangwin. Chaz and Rika."

"I will inquire."

A minute later a ship to ship comlink opened. A male voice, "Sorry for the delay. You know how your mom is in the morning."

She laughed. "Okay daddy. How long must I wait here, so impatiently ?" Alice asked, rolling her eyes.

"An hour or two." was Chaz's answer. In the background, her mom let loose a few cuss words.

Just then in an adjoining room, Captain Jonathan Smith come stomping out. His meeting with Stryker obviously ended badly.

Alice penguin-walked up to her husband, thinking _IF LOOKS COULD KILL !_.

He was throwing dagger-eyes at Smith. "Come with me to Dot's Diner while we wait."

S'Lara sat by herself at a corner table, staring at the glass of water in front of her and refusing to look at anyone. She had been ordered to remain off-duty after The One's attack, so she was in the diner for the first time since she had reported aboard.

She heard someone approach and raised her head to see who it was. A Vulcan male stood before her, his hands clasped behind his back. Solkar, one of the people from her department. "May I join you?" he asked.

S'Lara gestured to the chair across from her and said, "If you so wish." She returned her gaze to her water glass, unwilling to speak to him. As a result, she did not see the look of concern on her subordinates face.

After several moments of near silence, Solkar asked, "Are you all right, Ensign?"

S'Lara's head snapped up and barely concealed anger flared in her eyes. "What is the logic in asking if I am all right?" she growled. "If I was 'all right', would I be sitting in here by myself?" Her hand swept the water glass off of the table as she stood and spun toward the door, leaving the broken glass on the floor and Solkar staring worriedly after her.

**Lt. Commander Elizabeth Archer  
Bridge**

Liz was seated on the Captain's chair and watched the view screen carefully. On viewscreen she could see another Federation starship approaching USS Pretoria. She turned to Belldandy and said. "Hail them."

Belladandy open a hail frequency and Liz continued. "This is Lt. Commander Elizabeth Archer of USS Pretoria. How may I assist you?"

The approaching ship' command bridge visualised on the view screen. Liz almost lost her breath in surprise when she realised who the Captain on the viewscreen was. His smile disappeared at once when he saw her. " I am Captain Jonathan Smith at USS Freedom. I have some people here that want to come aboard. "

Liz was quite for a short while. _Imzadi! _She calmed herself down. _He looks good. So, he is a Captain already._ She knew that he was watching her eyes and he seemed a little surprised. He said, "You have green eyes?"

Liz disregarded his last comment and said. "Good, you can transport them over immediately."

They watched each other in silence. He seemed suddenly a bit bothered. "Hm, I will, but there is one thing though. We have a guest onboard that refuses to use the transporter. She insists on using a shuttle instead. "

He coughs and seemed more bothered. "You know her, the ambassador Padme Lagade Archer. "

Liz couldn't find any words. _Her grandmother, what is she doing here?_ " Alright, I will notify shuttle bay one. " She wanted to terminate this conservation as soon as possible.

"I would also like to have a word with Captain Stryker. "

"He is not available at the moment. But I will notify the Captain. Archer out. "

Liz asked Belldandy to close the communication. She could see some junior officer exchange looks and she couldn't blame them. For them it probably seemed like a strange conservation. Liz sighed; _Her ex-fiancé and her grandmother in the same day. Could this day get any worse?_

**Lt Alister Maxwell, After work, holodeck 1, Training program of doctor Coleridge running. **

_This is definetly a bad idea. Try to get to meet her at a casual place after hours, Kathryn said. And you thought why not now._ His eyes widened as the blond woman passed him on the track. Since he was on the side of the grandstand she didn´t see him. _Here goes..._ He set of running after her.

He was dressed in blue shorts and a black long sleeved shirt. She wore a blue tank top and black tights. As he cught up to her he looked strained from keeping pace with the doctor.

"So it´s marathon season, doctor. mind if i join you." She looked at him with irritable eyes. "Looks like I can´t stop you." She picked up the pace and Alister could barely keep up with her. However, she slowed down as she heared his next question. Wether it was from surprise, curiosity or something else Alister could´nt tell. He said "How is that hand of yours healing up? I noticed it when we were examening the probe. You probably injured your hand denting the wall in your office. Probably because of something Alex said i did or a reaction on something I´ve done."

There was a strange atmosphere between them. They only exchanged glances when Alister arrived not after. They just stared at the track in front of them.

"You see doctor, I am alex´s older brother and ever since I could´nt rescue her from drowning I´ve tried to watch over her. Be some kind of caretaker i guess. I thought i owed that to her." He was breathing heavily. karen noticed the strain Alister put himself through to do this. She was smileing inside. "Now I think I know that she is actually the tough one. She´s brave, resourceful and after seeing..." breathing heavily " you guys together I understand that..."  
_What _She thought  
"that she is happy whith you. She has that look on her face I haven´t seen since,.. , well you'd just have to ask her.

**Solkar son of Tolrec, S´Laras Quaters**

A view of the warp distorted stars and in the background the reflection of a woman looking out through th window. As if she was searching for something. The sound of someone beeing at the door did´nt make her flinch at all. "It´s open she said." As the door opened it made a rectangular reflection on her left side. Solkar was in the doorway. he was dressed in the white robes of a vulcan priest. She noticed that the necklace symbolising the priests succes in reaching Kohlinaar was missing. Apparently, he had´nt been successful in his effort.

As the door closed his reflection disappeared untill he approaced her from behind. "As I meditate I let every star I see be the representation of one single thought in my mind." Her quaters had been turned in to a sanctuary of tranquility and they both stood still for a long time. Watching the stars together.

"As the One entered my mind i experienced a beeing with vast knowledge and thought patterns of logical structure. Perfect thoughts. But the simplest things it could not understand." As she turned he took her wrist and put his hand in her open palm. "This simple feeling. This touch it could not understand." As he let her hand go he said. "What did it do to you. How did it injure you?"

**S'Lara, In Her Quarters**

S'Lara glared briefly at Solkar. "I do not wish to discuss it," she snapped, turning back to face the stars streaming past her window. She flinched slighly when Solkar placed his hand on her shoulder, but she said no more.

Solkar gently turned her to face him, concern showing only in his eyes. "I cannot help you if you will not speak with me," he said, his voice soft and almost gentle. "You must tell me what it did to you." He could sense her struggle for control, just as he felt her roiling emotions when he touched her. He could also sense how close to failure that control was, so he removed his hand from her shoulder.

S'Lara looked into his eyes a moment longer, then turned away. This time, rather than staring out at the stars, she crossed the room and sat on her unmade bed. She bowed her head as if fighting a great internal battle...and losing it. She did not see Solkar cross the room and only noticed his presence when he sat on the bed next to her. Neither spoke until S'Lara raised her head to look at Solkar, unshed tears shining in her eyes. She swallowed and said, "This is...difficult for me. I need you to understand that."

Solkar knew it would be illogical to comfort her. Nevertheless, he took both her hands in his as he said, " I understood that when I offered to help you."

S'Lara nodded and did not look away. She kept her eyes locked on her visitor as if trying to draw both strength and logic from him as she began her story with, "It was...unpleasant. The One was a strong telepathic presence. I..." Suddenly she looked away as a single tear ran down her face. "I could not fight it." She released Solkar's hands and turned so her back was facing him, ashamed at her lack of control, something she knew she was powerless to prevent.

"Fear"

**30 minutes after the Away Team returned  
Rakurai Stryker - Sickbay**

To his left, Ensign Spanner was sleeping. Stryker was sitting up and stared down at his hands, emerald green against the white of his exam gown, as though he've never seen them before. _All my senses seem to be operating on overdrive. Everything around me looks unreal, other-dimensional. Edges and surfaces too sharply defined, colours too heavily saturated._ he thought to himself.

The tension in Sickbay was intense. Nurses made any excuse they could think of to leave. Even Demi winked out. Karen scanned Stryker again.  
"Am I ... Am I going to live ?" Stryker asked.

Doctor Karen studied the latest results, looked at him and adopted a grave mien, "I am afaid not Captain." she paused. "I am afraid your brain to be removed now for later study. I am sorry."

Silence.

Then Stryker chuckled.

Karen let out a sigh of relief too, sharing in the laugh. "Your brain is slightly swollen. The synapsis in your spinal column firing faster when they should. It should all be back to normal within a few weeks, even several months. Until then, your skin will be very sentitive to stimuli and your relaxes basically hot-wired." she told him.

**Bedroom - Some time after 2 o'clock in the morning**

Alice looked up from her book, besides her, her husband slumbered on.

"Some times love" Alice murmured "I think you could sleep through the end of the world"

She would have quite happily slept as well if it where not for the twins inside her causing her strife, it lay painfully and she found no rest sitting, standing or laying down.

The novel in her hand, the latest trashy romance was almost finished. Alice had hated the plot and the characters, found her self despising the hero and loving the villain for trying to end his happiness and yet for all these details she had not put the book down and that angered her. _Sleep deprivation is just "wonderful"._

Getting out the bed Alice tottered to the bathroom to use the bath, while the unborn twins decided to take up karate and Spinning practice.

**Bedroom**  
Alice turned over. She knew she had a rough night, and she felt like crap. In the dark room, the clock read 0700. _Dang it...Stryker is late._

"Sweetie, you need to get up," she told him, shaking him a little.

His eyes opened, "Duty officer's on the bridge Alice. Liz can handle it." He kissed her, "Unless we go to red alert."

She laid back down in the bed and pulled the blanket back up over her head. "Love you, Honey."

"I love you _Iidasenai_." Slipping his arms around her he gave her a small hug.

"Do we have to get up?" she mused from underneath the blanket.

"No." he smiled, "we can stay in bed as long as we want to."

"Lair" she smiled. Stryker pulled the blanket off of Alice.

"I can be late. Paperwork is done, I'm yours all day. I hope." he said, "Besides ... something's wrong."

He knew her as well as she knew him, and nodded. "I had a rough night last night after we finally went to sleep. I think I had every nightmare and weird dreams imaginable. And I had to get up and pee three times."

He rolled over and looked at her, "What sort of nightmares?"

"Everything. Cardassians, Jem Hadar, Galangels attacking. I got ran over by a giant cheese ball, eaten by a werewolf, twice! Faceless ghosts chasing me, I was a kid again and being beaten up by the local bully. You turned blue and shiny and just .. I dont know ... blew up ?"

They sat in silence for about twenty seconds, Alice smiled and kissed him. "What did you dream of ?"

"I dreamt I was a hummingbird." he answered.

"What was that like ?"

"Very strange. And peaceful."

Alice sat up, Stryker put his hand in the small of her back and began massaging. "It's hurting just a bit." she admitted.

He gently rubbed her back and felt the knot of tension out. Then he leaned in and kissed the side of her neck. She closed her eyes and revelled in the warm contact. She needed that, finally relaxing. "I dont want to get up." he started complaining.

"Take a sick day." Alice suggested jokily.

Stryker looked at her and gently ran his fingers along her cheek. "Yes ma'am." he chuckled.

Alice smiled as Stryker's hands played with her stomach, using his talons in such a way, it causes a delightful senation on and around her swolling belly.

"What did the Doctor say the radiation you were exposed to yesterday? Was it harmful ?" Alice asked.

"It hurt me badly. The effects is temporary and will heal itself with a little medical assistance. But my skin is incredicly sentitive now." he answered.

"Oh ... really now." Alice said with an impish grin. "All skin eh ?"

**An hour later**  
The comm system beeped. Liz Archer's voice "Bridge to Captain."

/\ "Go ahead Swe" Stryker said.

/\ "Beskyddare." Liz addressed him, "The Freedom arrived."

/\ "I will be in the main transporter room in twenty minutes." Stryker informed the XO. The connection closed.

Alice let out a short sharp squeal of excitement. She has not seen her parents in 6 years.

L**t Alister Maxwell Transporter room 2**

The chief engineer came in to the tranporter room. From his perspective it seemed crowded. It appears that a lot of people had transported over fromthe Freedom. The captain was there and ... "Oups sorry about that." Commander brangwin looked back at him but did´nt snap... she seemed to accept his apology. He crossed the room as the others were exiting the room and asked the asked the woman stationed at the controls "Have my visitor arrived yet?" The ensign answered "No, but the last one is on the pad of the freedom awaiting transport." He looked at the door and saw Stryker beeing the last one of the crowd to leave.  
"Begin transport". He held his breath and by habit, he straightened his uniform.  
At the front of the transporter pad a woman, dressed in a red starfleet uniform matrialized. she wore a silvery bag over her left shoulder. She is athletic and has a proud posture, but not a coky one. From the look on the markings on her collar she is a full luitenant. As she started too look around in the transporter room he once again recognised her lovey dark blond hair. Slightly sun paled, and her topaz blue eyes. Suddenly a memory appeared in his head. But it had just enough time to make him smile and then she said. "Hello, sweety, and started to walk down the steps from the pad." He walked towards her and held out his arms. Embraced her with all his love and said

"I´ve been waiting for you." She answered. "Why does it feel like I haven't seen you for a long time, we have spoken almost every night since you left."   
"Because we are like teenagers". He said with a smile.  
They kissed.  
"Why do you always stand at the side of the transporter pad controls when youre going to meet someone. They are competent people you know." She glanced at the woman at the controls. Before he answered the transporter operator did. "It´s ok. We are used to having the chief breathing down are necks. At least now we know who to file the complaints with. She said with a grin. "Yes you do." Samantha answered as they both walked out of the room.

**Dot's Diner  
Lt. Commander Liz Archer**

"Hello Alice!"

"May I sit down?" Alice looks at the pile of pads lying on the table in front of Liz. She takes her place on the one of the available seats around the table.

"Sure, as you can see I am just studying for the XO-exam as is coming up soon, you know."

"That's right, Stryker mentioned it. How is it going?"

"Good, I think! But I would like to have any help that I can get. It's strange, all my life I have preparing me for this moment, but now when I am finally here it's like everything that I have learned is gone. "

Alice shows openly compassion for Liz. "I can understand that. Don't worry, you are just nervous."

"Yeah, but I don't get nervous. "Says Liz with a panic in her voice.

Alice takes on of the pad in the pile and starts to read. " Something I can help you with?"

"I thought you never ask, but is that all right considering your high pregnancy and so..?"

Alice laughs; "I think I can handle it. I am only pregnant, not knocked out."

Liz hesitates before she asks. "So how do you feel about getting twins? I can imagine that it will be twice as hard."

Alice shakes her head in disagreement. "No, I don't see it that way. I see it as twice the joy. Tell me, do you have any sisters or brothers?"

Liz sighs and replies the question. "No, I am the only child in my family. If you want to ask how it is to be a twin, then ask the new Counsellor, Kathryn. She has a twin brother."

"Really, I didn't know that. While on the subject, have you seen her lately? She seems to have disappeared."

Liz looks a little more seriously on Alice. "Actually, Kathryn had some trouble with being in the vicinity of the thing that we encountered earlier. I found her on the floor, sitting and starring in the dark, after my return of the away team. I took her immediately to the doctor in sickbay. She is fine now though, it had a strange affect on her. That's all I know!"

"Really, scary! I am glad to hear that she has recovered. I have heard that she wasn't the only one that experienced a negative effect by the One's present. I think I am going to the sickbay and say hello. Besides I have an appointment with the doctor, comes with the duty of being pregnant you know."

Liz smiles and watches as Alice rises from her chair. Alice continues. "By the way, I will drop in later and help you with your studies. That is, if the twins allows it. "

"Great, looking forward to it! And Alice, thanks!"

**Lt. Commander Liz Archer  
Her own quarters**

Jonathan jells out in frustration. "You should have said something!"

Liz looks behind him and says defensive. "I know I should, but what was I suppose to say? " Liz imitates herself. "Oh, by the way Jonathan I am part Betazoid, a telepath that you despises so much. " 

"I don't hate telepaths. "

Liz says accusing. " Oh really!"

" Sorry, I didn't mean to .."

Liz interrupts him roughly and says with a certainty in her voice. "Look, I don't want to talk about this now. I think I have been punished enough. I am happy now…"

Jonathan takes a step forward and says. " Are you really? I know this is a bad time and maybe too late, but I still love you.."

Liz stood like frozen, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She felt something strange; hope. She immediately pushed those feelings aside and takes control of her emotions. She shouldn't help thinking; could I still have feeling or him? Is it too late? She looked at him silently during a minute and then said with a hard and determined voice. "Leave, I don't want to talk about this anymore. "

Her eyes revealed her confusion openly and she quickly looked down. She repeated herself with less confidence. "I said leave."

Jonathan looked at her and showed openly his feelings about this situation. He takes a deep breath and starts to walk across the room towards the door with hesitating steps. She stops before he enters the door and looks back on her. "You know, this is not the end of this. We still have some unfinished business."

When the door closes behind him; Liz falls down to her knees covering her eyes with her hands, tears falls down. She says quietly to herself. " I don't need this right now. " Just in that moment Mike enters the door happily, drops his bags and immediately runs towards her and asks. "What's going on?"

**Lt. Alister Maxwell, his quaters**

As the door opened Alister ans Sam burst in to the room. Sam uncovered her moth fromher hands and started to laugh out loud. Her laugh always made him happy. she sat down on the couch. "Solkar is always so funny. I love that guy." Alister stood at the replicator. "Water cold. Two glasses" as the replicator hummed and the two glasses formed.

Sam continued in an excellent mock vulcan posture and accent. "Mr Maxwell has related the time of your arrival on several occations Miss Falco. Despite the tiresome repeating of the information I believe I am...as you say, happy, to see you."

They both laughed. Alister sat down at her side gave her the glass. As things calmed. She said, "How are things on this new ship? Have you had that talk with the doctor and your sister?" He took a deep breath, held the glass in his lap. "Well, I tried to, with doctor Coleridge but, well I don´t know how that went. You know when I was assigned to this ship I thought it would be nice to be rejoined with Solkar and Alex. Perhaps I thought everything was going to be like they used to."

"Does it other you that she is with another woman?" Sam asked.

Alister faced Sam, "That woman is my sister, she's a little girl for crying out loud!"

"No she isn't you know that. I don´t think she's the problem here."

"Has she spoken to you?" Sam didn't answer that but somehow he already knew the truth, the real answer. "it doesn't matter perhaps you're right. Perhaps it does bother me."

**Deck 2, Corridor**

Kathryn walks through the corridor. She had a split headache. With a big sigh, she looks uninterested on the corridors walls, greyish and elegant in its style. But it was far from the view that she had on Starbase Prime. She searched in her memories and saw the station inside her mind, especially the background; the view from the windows in the corridor..

A huge smile played on her lips; an old woman suddenly interrupted her. Kathryn noticed that she greyish stripes on her huge brown hair. She said telepathically to her. "_Oh, finally somebody sensible person. I was wondering if you could help me, I was looking for my grandchild Stanni Archer. Dou you know where I can find her?"_

Kathryn showed her calmer side of her and replied telepathically "_Just a moment_." She turned to the computer view panel on the sides of the corridor walls. "Computer, locate Elizabeth Archer." Kathryn takes a quick look at the old woman showed openly disapproval of the name Elizabeth.

The computer replied. "Commander Archer is in Dot's diner." She pointed on the view panel on the wall and said. "Follow this read stripe on the view panel in the corridor wall. It will lead you to Dot's Diner."

The woman showed openly gratitude and said. "You are from Betazoid, aren't you?"

Kathryn once again smiled and said telepathically. "_Yes, I am. My name is Kathryn Delore, I am the counsellor on the ship. "_

The woman muttered. "_That's what I thought! You know what, Stanni and I will drop by later. And maybe we can talk some sense into her._ "

Kathryn blinked her eyes in confusion. She had no idea of what the woman was talking about. She watched the woman disappear through the corridor and then continued her walk forward.

**Sickbay, Main Ward**

"What've we got?" Karen asked as two medtechs pushed a stretcher into the trauma unit, followed by two more and another stretcher.

"The reason why Dot's has a cutoff for alcohol," Crewman Michael O'Toole replied, running a hand through his auburn buzz cut. "One human male, cuts and contusions to the head and neck, rule out spinal trauma; pulse 110, BP 135/95, resps 21, A&O times three and we wish he wasn't. One Betazoid male, stab wounds to the chest, arms and neck; he went into V-tach in the field, we gave him a round of leporazine and a liter of Ringer's. Pulse 140, BP 95/60, resps 23 and shallow, was disoriented at the scene and lost consciousness en route."

Karen looked over both victims briefly, and though most of her face was hidden by the surgical mask, a trained observer would have been able to see the disgust in her eyes. "I'm guessing bar fight. These boys smell like a brewery."

O'Toole gave a humorless laugh at that. "Got it in one, ma'am. Apparently a few helmsmen decided to have a game of cards, which turned into a general piss-up, and then these lads came to blows over the attentions of a certain young waitress..."

"Got a BAC of 210 on this one," the nurse taking care of the human patient chimed in.

"Liss'n bitch, I tol' ya get tha' thing outta my face!" the patient slurred back.

"I see we have a potty mouth too," Karen commented dryly. "Sir, you're in Sickbay in the Emergency Unit, and we'd be happy to take care of you if you would stop insulting the staff..."

"Frak you, don' need no doctor, bitch. Gimme 'nother beer!"

"I wonder if his mother taught him how to talk like that?" the nurse commented.

"This one's pressure's dropping, so are his sats; he's 89 on room air," a second nurse said, looking up from the Betazoid patient. "Doctor, I think you better tube this guy."

"Got it," Karen said, moving from one bed to the next, glancing at the vital signs readout. "I need the laryngoscope and a #10 ET tube. 150 mikes of Fentanyl, eleven milligrams etomidate." With ease borne of long practice, she passed the tube into the patient's trachea and connected it to a ventilator. "Hang a unit of hemolog on the rapid infuser and give him another 5 milligrams of leporazine and 15 milligrams delactovine. We get the primary scan back?"

"Right here." The nurse tapped a set of controls on the overhead monitors.

"That is one ugly stab wound," Karen mused. "Another millimeter and he'd be missing his right ventricle. Who's on call for surgery tonight?"

"Dr. Strauss, ma'am."

Karen cracked a smile at that; she'd grown to like the voluble Bolian resident. "Could you get him on the line for me, please?"

Just then, the human patient rolled over on his biobed, and for the first time, he noticed that his adversary was still alive. Roaring in rage, he leaped off the bed and across the trauma unit.

"YOU TOOK 'ER FROM ME, I'M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU MISERABLE MOTHER--"

It was all over in thirty seconds.

Karen heard the threat the instant before the man made his move, and dropping the hypospray, spun around just in time to catch him mid-leap. "That will be quite enough of that," she snapped, bodily hoisting the man back onto the bed and pinning him there with one hand planted on his chest. "Now we asked you nicely to behave yourself. Act up again and you'll have me to deal with. Got that, Superman?"

A few moments later, the Betazoid was stabilized and moved to the pre-op area, while the human, heavily sedated, restrained and under guard, was transferred to 7 East. "You really have to wonder what would make someone that angry that they'd actually try to kill someone," one of the nurses commented as they all stripped out of their gowns and gloves.

"Yes, you do have to wonder," Karen replied absently, her thoughts drifting back to that morning...

**Holodeck One  
Kootenay, British Columbia**

Silence, the sound of shoes slapping against gravel, crisp fall air flowing over skin. As the sun began its climb over the Canadian Rockies, a hawk circled, watching below as a lone runner cruised through the morning stillness.

_This was worth the 0500 wake-up,_ Karen thought. She'd covered twelve kilometers in only five seconds over her personal best pace. If she continued to train hard and stay healthy, the women's over-40 division in Frisco this year would be a lock. _Three klicks left. I could probably push it to 3:15 pace--_

"Program in progress. Enter when ready."

_What the...?_

Glancing behind, Karen saw Alister Maxwell, huffing frantically as he sprinted to catch up. _Great. Just what I needed._ She increased her pace, feeling slightly childish for doing so, but then again, the guy did have a foolproof, guaranteed way of getting on her nerves.

"Doctor, mind if I join you?" Alister gasped. Clearly the man was not any kind of runner.

"Well, I can't stop you, can I?" Karen retorted. Already she could feel her good mood beginning to slip away, and she forced herself to concentrate on finishing the run strong. Alister's next comment, though, nearly made her stop in her tracks.

"So, how's your hand doing? I figured you must have broken it hitting something, maybe because you were angry over something Alex or I did..."

"My hand is fine, thank you. And I don't like what you're insinuating." The idea of lashing out at a loved one made her ill, and she felt her stomach twist up as she realized that Alister was indirectly accusing her of just that.

Or not so indirectly. "I'm just saying it's understandable. You have a tough job, it must be very frustrating dealing with all those sick people all day, and when you get more grief at home, you just want to take a swing at somebody--"

"Enough," Karen snapped, stopping in the middle of the holographic trail. "I don't know where you get this sick fantasy, Mr. Maxwell, but I have never-- oh, to hell with it." She took a deep breath, then another, willing herself to calm down. "We're getting off on the wrong foot here. You obviously came here to tell me something. Why don't you tell me that?"

As she listened to the engineer speak, a thought began to form itself in the back of her mind. _When Alister made that accusation, he described almost the exact same scenario Alex did when she thought I was going to leave her. What in the galaxy happened to them?_

"...and I understand that, well, she's happy with you. She has this look on her face that I haven't seen since I don't know when."

"I appreciate your telling me that. Thank you." Karen paused, and she said with a smile, "I realize you don't know me all that well, and I'd like to change that, but for now, know this: I care about your sister very much, and I'd take a one-way hike into a glacier before I would do a thing to hurt her." Pause. "Truce?"

The engineer thought about that for a second, and then accepted the offered hand. "Truce."

"So, how about the rest of that run?"

She'd had to scrape him off the track afterward, but she didn't mind a bit.

**Solkar son of Tolrec S´Laras quaters**

"I could not fight it." She said.

Solkar sat down on his knees in front of her. The light from th meditation candles shown on their faces. "I understand. None aboard this ship could have. The precense of the One was to strong. Not even the most adept telepaths, the betasoids could have fought the precense of the One. It, the living machine generated some kind of bioelectrical field that interacted with the fields generated by the neurons of all living beeings." She looked at him with worry in her eyes. After his pause, he continued. "After the first pulse you rejected you were probably exposed to a fieldnode of greater power. Thus, your telepathic pathways have been disrupted. Drawn from their logical nature. All that is, truly is Vulcan was taken from you. You are ... a fish pulled from the lake and left on the dry beach, not beeing able to breathe." She looked away from him, towards the candles. she said with a sour voice "I need help. you are right. All that once was me is gone... or dormant."

He said. "Meld with me. I might be able to help you aquire a part of yourself. Heal you, at least a little. Give your mind a rest and time to heal itself."

They both knelt to the floor. They both reached out their right hand and with their thums and fingers they touched the chin and temples of the other. As a chorus of two they said "My mind to your mind. Your thoughts to my thoughts..."

S´Lara spoke but with the voice of Solkar "The One, perfect logic but cold. Logic is the mere begining of wisdom...  
solkar spoke with the frustrated, tormented voice of S´Lara "No one understands, only Vulcans must know. Not logical... I am Vulcan." S´Lara answered "Tolrec...father... dry sand in my mouth. Bitter taste like... defeat or death...so tired.

Their minds were one. S'Lara could clearly sense Solkar's thoughts and knew that he could feel her pain. She tried to draw back, but Solkar's logic held her in place as the man before her said in her voice, "It has taken my logic...my control." The words were strained, forced from her mind through the meld.

Moments later S'Lara was aware of Solkar's mind slowly pulling away from hers. Knowing she did not have the mental strength to begin her own retreat, she remained still and simply cleared her mind. A long silence fell while Solkar gathered his thoughts. Finally he said to her, "I understand your pain. I have done all I can, for now."

S'Lara nodded, seeing the tired look on his face. Then she said formally, "You have lent me your logic to allow my mind to heal. For this, I thank you."

Solkar dismissed her words with a slight wave of his hand as he said, "Your gratitude is not necessary. It had to be done." Exhaustion, both mental and physical, crept into his words. He extinguished the meditation candles and stood. S'Lara remained where she was, looking up at him until he extended his hand to her. She took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. Solkar looked into her eyes and raised his right hand in the split-fingered Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper, S'Lara," he said, his voice perfectly level.

S'Lara returned the gesture and said, "Peace and long life." The words did not come as easily to her, but she credited that to her injured mind.

As Solkar left her quarters, S'Lara realized this would not be their last session. The One had taken too much away from her. At least now she had some control.

**Holodeck 18**  
The door disappeared behind him as he found himself standing alone in a square room with sandstone walls.

A woman dressed in clothes of the Earth's medieval period approached him. "Greetings. Were you send by the guild ?" the woman asked.

"No, who are you ?" he asked.

He glared at the woman when Belldandy walked into the room. "Please excuse my friend. He is new at this."

The hologram nodded. Belldandy continued, "We were sent by the guild, they said we are to receive our orders from you."

The woman looked Belldandy up and down as if inspecting her. "You are instructed to meet a man called Seth at the Solder's Sanctuary."

"Can you be more specific ?" Belldandy asked.

"No ," the woman answered "The message says just come."

"Thank you." Belldandy said, walking out the door with Wren behind her.

Wren examined the courtyard. The town was brightly alive with soft patches of grass and people planting flowers. Flower petals floated lazily through the hot air as the swirls of colour wound through the skies, and the cobbled paths were hardly empty, every person at work.

The houses were made of sandstone and clay, with large flagstones in the ground leading the outside perimeter of the town. He turned to Belldandy "What is going on ?"

"I am not sure yet. Except we have to pick up our weapons and armour at the blacksmith." she replied.

Several minutes later, they walked out of the blacksmith's shop. Belldandy was wearing a pink skirt and top underneath purple, gold edged rigid leather armour. Powder yellow leggings and bright, pure white boots. Belldandy had a finely crafted long sword. The ends of the hilt arched like spread wings, the blade a bluish color and the pommel was adorned with a golden crosspiece and a large sapphire.

Wren was given a metal breastplate and backplate. He chose not to wear the rest of the armor for the sake of comfort. A silver bow in his hand, a quiver of arrows on his back and a knife hanging off a belt around his waist.

Walking through the town, he examined the high stone walls surrounding the city. Wren turned to Belldandy "What is all this ?"

"This is what some of Earth looked like 1500 years ago. People then believed in magic, angels and demons. They had primitive weaponry, the lords and nobles system of property, castles and kings."

"I am unfamiliar with this. I was born and raised on Sherman's Planet. Can you tell a little bit about these weapons ?"

"Swords and bow and arrow was the main weapons in this part of the world during Medieval times, Western Europe."

The huge man wearing a peasant's coarse shirt and trousers, was leaning up against the city wall next to the gate. He had a pair of knifes slid into his belt, and a sword hung at his side. "Hey gorgeous! Why don't you go with me instead of that kid ?" the man boasted.

"Buzz off, " Belldandy yelled. "And get out of my way!"

Wren glared at the man menacingly, even hatefully. The man looked at her astonished. "You wouldn't happen to be the one going around calling yourself 'Dagger' would you ?"

She gave him a dirty look. "Call me that again and you won't have a voice left any more."

A sly smile appeared on his face, "Know my name kid, it is Gawain. Prince James sent me to kill you, any way I see fit. Now your coming with me little girl."

Wren frowned, "How convenient, old, ugly, and insane too."

The man attacked Wren. But Wren moved faster and knocked him out, leaving the crazy man lying in the road. A number of people stopped what they were doing and took notice of the fight. "Quick. We have to get out of here." Belldandy urged him. _I think I like this holo-novel_, she thought to herself.

Belldandy and Wren starting running, from the town into the forest.

Alice and Stryker stood in a field of grass near a low underbrush and several stunted trees. Stryker aimed at a dead tree. He pulled back the string holding the arrow and let go. The arrow narrowly missed its target. "Stryker you're hopeless!" Alice laughed quietly.

He tried again. He took careful aim before releasing the arrow. Missed again. "Is that better ?"

"Umm ... No ... quicker. Oh, come on, lets not get discouraged!"

Stryker frowned. "But I don't think I can get it. This weapon does not suit me. Why can't the computer not provide me a sword or something ?"

"Because this holo novel is supposed to have a sword carrier and an archer."

"I never used a bow before. Crossbow yes. Not this thing though."

Belldandy rushed forward with her sword and swung at the old tree, severing it greatly. "Show off." Stryker said dryly. She grinned as the heavy footsteps approaching them could be heard. Seven men in armor was chasing them on foot.

Around them, objects become fuzzy. Belldandy and Wren looked around in confusion.

"Warning! System crash!" the computer announced. Then the holodeck shut down.

**Lt. Alister Maxwell, Holodeck 1**

Bright, warm sunlight made the glasses of wine glitter where they stood at the side of the white plates covered by blue napkins. Alister had a happy look on his face as he let his hand stroke her hair. It made her smile and close her eyes as she rested with her head in his lap. 

They were both dressed casual clothes. He, wore a white shirt of an old design and grey pants. She wore white pants and a lime colored top made of andorian silk. It had been a gift from him as he left from Jupiter station. When she´d been purring like a cat for some time she spoke as he kissed her hand and held it in his. "You spoil me sweety, herbal chicken, potato sallad, wine and there´s still more." She looked at the wicker basket filled with foods and fruits of different kinds. "Well, the road to a womans heart is through her stomache. But the picture isn't complete." He looked away at the pond with white water lilys and said. "I didn't get you a flower." She sat up. "No, you didn't. And I thought you were a man of class and style... all I ask for is a little romance..." She smiled at him.

He stood up and started to walk towards the pond. Half way he took his shoes off as he turned to her. "Remember Sell and See?". 

"How could I forget."

She started to walk towards the pond with the last of the wine in her hand. As Alister came closer he undressed his shirt and pants and walked in to the water. "I did´nt remember you as that good looking Alister. Youré a stud." As he started swimming towards one of the larger flowers he answered. "No, I´m not. It´s just the wine baby." They both laughed. As he had picked the flower and started to return to land she had already come in to the water. When they both had water up to their chest they kissed and between the kisses she looked at the flower and said "It´s beautiful." "But not real" he replied. "It is a gift, all of this is and I appreciate it, all of it." The kissed again and suddenly she said something that took him completely off guard.

"Marry me Alister."

**Corridor - Deck 4**  
Seemed more like a herd of buffalo leaving the transporter rooms. Alice and Stryker was dodging the traffic while trying reached the hallway leading to the transporter rooms, when Stryker saw two humans in Starfleet science-medical uniform, a man and woman was standing in the corridor. Alice noticed them too. She shrieked and ran up to them.

"Hey, Trouble ... " the sandy-blond haired man chuckled as Alice wrapped her arms around him. "Surprise !"

"Daddy !" Alice let go of him. "I thought the Vulcan Science Institute would not allow you to leave until your assignment is over."

He smiled at his pride and joy. "What, miss a long overdue visit to our daughter and her most important event of her life ? I don't think so."

She was so happy to finally see her parents again. Chaz smiled at her, "I know this must be exciting for you."

Alice nodded. "Very exciting, yes. Very scary. Just thinking of that, I don't know, I think I get freaked out once in a while"

"You two will make excellent parents," Chaz assured her. The older red haired woman was crying as she hugged Alice tightly.

"You look well Venerable Chaz." Stryker said to Chaz. The two men bowed to each other.

"Enjoying this daily stresses of Command ?" Chaz inquired.

"There are times that I'd rather scream and run away." Stryker admitted. "But I have an excellent crew."

**30 minutes later - Dot's Diner**  
Chaz smiled at Alister and Sam Falco sitting nearby. "Doesn't those two look wonderful ?"

Stryker looked over briefly, "Yes, there is nothing like a new love affair to really get your pulse racing again" 

Rika looked straight at Stryker, "Trust me. Stick to jogging."

**3 hours later - (still in) Dot's Diner**  
Stryker was on the bridge for nearly 2 hours, mainly coaching Liz as she goes through training to become the XO.

The Diner was pretty empty, on the far end of the diner, Stryker found Alice and Sam Falco at their usual corner booth, talking with Laenia. Alice took notice and waved him over. He started walking towards them when the doors behind him hissed open and someone yelled, "Uncle !"

Stryker spun around just in time for the leaping figure to hit him in the chest instead of the back. Together they went crashing to the floor, in the process knocking over several chairs as well. All this he was used to, but this young Edenian woman was nearly his weight and size. She immediately hugged him hard enough to squeeze out what breath still remained to him.

The girl in teal overalls and a purple T-shirt was looking right at him with her deep amber eyes. Finally, the sudden arrival released him and asked, "How's it going, big guy ?"

"Ee... Eei" panted Stryker, staring at the young Edenian woman kneeling on his stomach. "Eiko."

"Surprise !" Eiko exclaimed, brushing her shiny aqua hair out of her eyes. He took a few moments to look at the young womanl. Her face had lost a little of its childlike roundness. But the wide intelligent eyes were the same, and so was the smile.

She picked up her fallen Ginsu starfish and put it back in her hair. He gently dislodged Eiko and stood up, brushing himself off. "I will be with you in a few minutes, Sparky. Let me talk to your mom first."

"Wow," said Alice. "She's a little intense, isn't she ?"

"This is amazing !" he said, half to himself. "I have not seen her since she was eleven years old."

"Does she remind you of someone ?" Laenia inquired, innocently.

He was speechless for a few seconds, looking at his sister. "Please tell me I was not like that."

Laenia tried to be evasive, "Well ... "

Alice chuckled.


End file.
